Evacuation Efforts

Evacuation efforts continue to move forward.  I have received information that they are working to get the missionaries and the Mission President out of Sierra Leone via chartered airplanes and regularly scheduled flights.  However, the report is that most of the missionaries and the Mission President are still in Sierra Leone.  I believe Cody might be one of the first to leave because of a cute picture that one of the mom's was able to get today from her son's camera.  Her son has a camera with Wi-Fi on it which downloaded some pictures.  She shared 3 of them on Facebook with us, and Cody happens to be in one of the pictures.  The first one was of the two missionaries.  Several hours later, she posted the one with Cody in it.  Yea.  Made my day.  What are the odds that the 3 pictures she posted of her son and only 3 other missionaries are included, one of them would be Cody.  Perfect.

They cross the Sierra Leone River to get to the airport.  This means that Cody is obviously headed to the airport.  They couldn't take all the missionaries over at once, so they are probably taking the ones they think are leaving first.  Hopefully we will have some contact with him soon.

Here is a very funny story.  Jenessa, Cody’s sister, is in Tonga right now doing her student teaching.  Yesterday she saw a man she thought looked familiar but she couldn’t place him.  She spoke with him and they realized he was in the administration at Churchill Jr. when she was a student there. Her school burned down when she was at Wasatch Jr. so they combined both schools in the Churchill building for a couple of years while they rebuilt the Wasatch Jr building.  Anyway, he is a missionary in Tonga with his wife.  Out of the blue he mentioned to Jenessa that they would be receiving some additional missionaries from West Africa soon because they were being evacuated due to the Ebola Virus.  Jenessa told him that her brother was one of the missionaries getting evacuated.  She has her fingers crossed that Cody will be one of the missionaries transferred to Tonga.  We'll see how her luck holds out.  There is a 1 in 274 chance of that happening (or better depending on how many missionaries go to Tonga), but she isn’t holding her breath.  I'm sure she is crossing her fingers though. 

Hopefully the next update will include Cody's new mission location with some fascinating stories and pictures.

Being Reassigned to Another Mission

We received information today that all missionaries are safe, healthy and have limited interaction with other people. We will likely not receive an email from Cody this week because they will not be going to the internet café to email.  Therefore, the first we will hear from him is when he arrives at his new mission.  I will definitely post his new mission as soon as I hear from him. 

Some interesting information is that there are 274 total missionaries in Sierra Leone and Liberia.  Of those, 157 are from other African Nations, and 117 are from outside Africa, mostly the United States and Canada.  There are 13,078 members of the church and 30 congregations in Sierra Leone with the first approved church meeting in 1988.  Liberia has 8,081 members and 22 congregations with the first formal branches starting in the early 1980's. 

The new mission assignments will be made by an Apostle.  I appreciate how complicated this situation is for all those who are involved in making these decisions, working through the logistics and taking care of that many missionaries in such a short time frame (3-7 days).  Tuesday will be 6 months since Cody left Salt Lake.  As you recall, his travel to Ghana was complicated, and it has been a crazy but wonderful experience every single day since he left.  I know that Cody is safe, healthy and being protected.  I pray for the people in Sierra Leone and Liberia that they may be protected and safe, and continue to grow and blossom as they have been these past few years.

Thanks again to all of you for your love.
Cody's Mom  :)
(Best job in the world)

Evacuation of Sierra Leone and Liberia

Dear Family and Friends;

Cody will be leaving Sierra Leone in the next few days (or possibly a little longer).  I have not heard from him, but received this information from a post by his Mission President, David Ostler.  All missionaries in these two countries will be evacuated as quickly as possible due to the Ebola Virus that is spreading quickly throughout the Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. 

My understanding is that we will not hear from Cody until he has arrived at his new mission assignment and he will be the one to let us know where he will be serving.  There are 274 missionaries to be reassigned, so those in charge will be busying making things happen and will not be the ones contacting the families, but will leave that to the missionaries when they arrive at their new destination. 

Please remember Cody in your prayers.  He was hoping to not be transferred this week because he loves the people he is currently working with and has 7 people lined up for baptism.  I'm sure he had no idea there was a possibility of him being evacuated.  Please also pray for his Mission President, David Ostler, and the Area Authority, Lee Curtis, as well as all of the people of Sierra Leone (and Liberia) who will be staying there and suffering another hardship on top of all that they have already suffered.  They lost so much during the civil war that ended 10 years ago.  They have not yet healed from that.  The Gospel was the light to help them move forward and it is now going to be harder for them to hear about the blessings that are available to them.  They love the Plan of Salvation.  It gives them the promises they need and they cling to it.

Thank you for your love and support you give Cody.  I will post as soon as I know anything new.

Sincerely,
Nan