Coronavirus

Today is Tuesday, April 28, 2020. (Posted on FB from someone and reposted by Audrey)

- We are (at average) at 43 days of social isolation. In the US alone, there are just under 1 million confirmed covid19 cases with 55,000+ deaths as of this morning.

- Schools have been closed since March 16th and are teaching remotely on-line. Schools will not reopen for the 2019-2020 school year.

- Only “essential” retail stores are open such as grocery stores, hardware stores, and pharmacies. Amazon delivery windows average 3 - 4 weeks when they used to be max. 2 days. No gyms are open, and it’s almost impossible to find weights, exercise equipment, bikes, etc.

- All extra curricular/ volunteer/business meeting and other gatherings are now on virtual meeting platforms i.e.(Zoom, House Party, Go to Meeting, Whatsap, Webex, Google Duo) the list goes on. Hang in there, life will continue and eventually, all together, we will get to a new normal!

- There are lines / tape inside the stores on the floors to keep people 6 feet apart.

- Bars and restaurants are open only for takeout, home delivery & drive through.

- Playgrounds and sports fields are closed. Most beaches, parks and cemeteries are closed to the public. No visitors are allowed in hospitals.

- All major and minor league sports competitions have been canceled as well as kids' sports. The NFL draft was done virtually this week.

-American Idol was done virtually this week.

- All festivals and entertainment events have been banned.

- Weddings, family celebrations, and graduations have been canceled. Funerals limited to 10 people graveside.

- People are doing drive-by parades to celebrate birthdays.

- Young kids can’t understand why they can only see grandparents and; other extended family and friends on a screen or thru a window if someone visits in person or on Facetime online.

-Visitors are prohibited at nursing homes and assisted living residences.

- Hugs and kisses are not exchanged.

- Places of worship are closed or online.

- We have to stay away from each other more than six feet.

- Shortage of disposable masks and gloves in hospitals.

- People are wearing masks, some places REQUIRE that you wear them to enter! People are even sewing their own cloth masks for sale or donation to medical facilities. Illinois announced that as of May 1st, face coverings are required in public over the age of 2 where social distancing cannot be maintained.

- Toilet paper, hand sanitizer, bleach, antibacterial wipes and anything Lysol or Clorox is in short supply and limited per person.... IF you can even find them! (This goes the same for flour and yeast).

- Stores are closing early to disinfect everything. (24 hour stores are even closing by 6,8 or 9 pm)

- Store check outs, pharmacies and even fast food drive thru windows have added plexiglass between the employee and the customer. Have to reach around or under to pay!

- You can't find isopropyl alcohol easily. .. the supply per person is limited.

- Australia, USA, Canada and Europe have closed their borders.

- Western Australia has been divided into 9 territories & an instant $1,500 fine issued for crossing the border without a valid reason. (Transport workers, Essential services etc)

- No one is traveling for leisure. Airports empty. Tourism has the worst crisis in history.

- Wi-Fi and cell phone providers have extended their limits to provide connection to the Internet for people to continue to work from home and for students to learn from their teachers.

- Many public pool access, concerts and summer activities will not be allowed/take place.

- We don't know if baseball seasons will start, hockey season will continue/end or any summer camps, etc. will run. Lots of teen/college summer jobs are up in the air.

-Colleges have not made definite decisions about whether to take their classes online, in person, or open at all for the fall.

-K-12 is being done strictly online and plans to open for the fall have so many unknowns, social distancing, new guidelines for keeping everyone safe. How will it be scheduled? Can sports and activities continue as they have?

- Society appears to be divided about whether or not we should continue to isolate or open back up and get the economy going. It's an election year and politics are messy and complicating this issue.

Doran's Letter

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In Elder M. Russell Ballard’s General Conference address on Saturday, April 4, 2020, he asked the saints to consider a request, given to the early saints of the restored gospel about 178 years ago. “…Let us, therefore, as a church and as a people, and as Latter-day Saints, offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.” Elder Ballard then asked us to “…consider what offering you will present to the Lord in righteousness…” (D&C 128:24)

I would like to share with you the significance of this request from an Apostle of the Lord. This request was not made lightly and is of great importance to all of us.

Almost 13 years before this request was made to the early saints, on May 15, 1829, John the Baptist appeared to the Prophet Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery on the bank of the Susquehanna River, near Harmony, Pennsylvania. John the Baptist conferred the Aaronic Priesthood on Joseph and Oliver and explained that this priesthood held the “keys of the ministering of angels, and of the gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins.” He then exclaimed, speaking of this priesthood, “and this shall never be taken again from the earth, until the sons of Levi do offer again an offering unto the Lord in righteousness.” (D&C 13)

Who are the Sons of Levi? What kind of offering would they offer unto the Lord in righteousness? We learn from the Book of Exodus in the Old Testament, that Moses was born of a mother and father who were of the tribe of Levi. (Ex 2:1-8) The Lord called “Aaron the Levite”, the brother of Moses, to be a spokesman and a teacher. (Ex 4:14-15) The Lord instructed Moses to anoint and set apart Aaron and his sons to be priests, which would offer sacrifices on the altar of the tabernacle, and eventually the temple. (Ex 40:12-15) These blood or animal sacrifices, or offerings, were symbolic of the “sacrifice of the Only Begotten of the Father.” (Moses 5:7) These offerings along with the other tenets of the Law of Moses were meant to lead the children of Israel to Jesus Christ.

Who are the Sons of Levi in our day? Are they to offer blood or animal sacrifice again before or at the second coming of Christ? No, these types of sacrifices ended, or the law was fulfilled at the first coming of Christ.

Since Moses and Aaron were of the tribe of Levi, their sons would also be of the tribe of Levi. In the eighty fourth section of the Doctrine and Covenants, in what is known as “The Oath and Covenant of the Priesthood”, we learn that, those who are faithful unto the obtaining of the Aaronic and the Melchizedek Priesthood, and magnify their calling, become the sons of Moses and of Aaron. In other words, they become the Sons of Levi! We also learn in this section that the Sons of Moses and the Sons of Aaron shall offer and acceptable offering and sacrifice in the house of the Lord in this generation, or in this dispensation.

So, what is the acceptable offering which those who embrace and magnify the priesthood will present before the Lord? We learn in section 128 verse 24 of the Doctrine and Covenants, that the Lord will purify the Sons of Levi, or the faithful priesthood holders, “that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness”. Then as Elder Ballard proclaimed in General Conference, “Let us therefore, as a church and a people, and as Latter-day Saints offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness”, the completion of this verse is as follows: “and let us present in his holy temple, when it is finished, a book containing the records of our dead, which shall be worthy of all acceptation.” (D&C 128:24)



There are many things which we as disciples of Christ can “offer unto the Lord”, but the greatest gift we can offer would be to come unto the Savior sealed as eternal families. Then WE may receive the gift from Him of eternal life, which is the greatest of all the gifts of God.

Love, Brother Doran Shelley

19 April 2020

I Can "Hear" Him

I respect all the people in the health care professions that are taking precautions by wearing masks during the Covid-19 pandemic, and I hope they continue as long as necessary. I try to do my part by hunkering down in my home and go out only for necessities, however, as I went to my Dr.s appointment this morning things became a little frustrating (only in my own little world).
Let me explain. For those of us that have hearing impairments, self-isolating has been a normal life for a while, that is in the hearing department. Hearing has its own set of problems on many different levels. We are used to not hearing all that goes on and we have come to accept that. Well at least most of us have. Sometimes we place ourselves in the front of the room so we can read lips without realizing we are reading lips. We exclude ourselves from gatherings or social events because we can’t hear most of what is going on anyway and it is just frustrating. We use our hearing devices to help and those have been a great blessing.
I remember taking a class one time and I went to my teacher at the beginning and told her that I can’t hear well and if it was okay to sit at the front of the class so that I could hear better. I also asked if we could be discreet about my situation. I don’t know why, but people really do look at those with “special needs” a little differently. Well, the first thing she did was welcome me as new to the class and proceeded to tell the class that I had trouble hearing. I was humiliated.
Anyway, back to my Dr.s appointment. While I was at my appointment, where everyone was wearing masks, I felt I was back to square one, with no help to be "seen". You see, a lot of people rely on reading lips and I didn't realize how MUCH I read lips until I can't because they are covered. I would either ask them to repeat themselves or I would just nod my head and smile like I heard. I feel for those people that can't hear at all.
Years ago, Doran and I went on a temple trip. We visited six different temples in 6 days in three different states. We had a wonderful and different experience at each temple. But one of the most memorable visits was the Los Angeles temple. Here is an excerpt of the blog post I made about that. “Saturday morning after breakfast we headed out of Dodge St. George and headed to Los Angeles on a three hour tour....oh wait wrong show. It was a six-hour drive. We drove straight to the Los Angeles Temple. We saw Bro and Sis Hardy from Tremonton at the Visitor Center. (They are serving a mission there.)
Before we found a hotel, we decided that we should just change clothes in the Visitor's Center so we could make a session before they closed for the night. After the sister missionaries took our picture and gave us a quick little tour we hurried and were determined to attend the 2:30 session.
We barely made it. This temple is HUGE and of course gorgeous! I saw a couple of workers using sign language before we started but thought nothing of it until the session began. It was SO COOL!! We ended up in an ASL (American Sign Language) session. Both us had one of the most spiritual experiences we have ever had. It was a regular session but also with workers using sign language. This temple is so big that we also got to change rooms throughout the session. Just fabulous, neat, wonderful. Then in part of session the patrons took part, the deaf did the work and then the "hearing" got to watch. Oh, my heavenly. I just sat there and wept (without a tissue at that). It is a great reminder that Heavenly Father loves us ALL!! UNCONDITIONAL love. He accommodates for those that are willing and ready. We are so thoroughly grateful that our timing worked out to attend this session. I think EVERYONE should attend an ASL session.”
So, there you have it my friends. There are so many different things we are learning as we go through this pandemic together. May we all have patience, love and support for one another.
Even though I can't read sign language this video was a light for me. Heavenly Father accommodates for everyone to hear His word. And His word this week is about the restoration of the gospel and to prepare us to celebrate the Resurrection of our Savior.
I know my Savior lives and love me!
Jody

Coronavirus (Covid-19)

Just so I NEVER forget..... April 2, 2020

School canceled - yes canceled
Self-distancing measures on the rise.
Tape on the floors at grocery stores and others to help distance shoppers (6ft) from each other.
Limited number of people inside stores, therefore, lineups outside the store doors.
Non-essential stores and businesses mandated closed.
Parks, trails, entire cities locked up.
Entire sports seasons canceled.
Concerts, tours, festivals, entertainment events - canceled.
Weddings, family celebrations, holiday gatherings - canceled.
No masses, churches are closed.
No gatherings of 50 or more, then 20 or more, now 10 or more.
Don't socialize with anyone outside of your home.
Children's outdoor play parks are closed.
We are to distance from each other.
Shortage of masks, gowns, gloves for our front-line workers.
Shortage of ventilators for the critically ill.
Panic buying sets in and we have no toilet paper, no disinfecting supplies, no paper towel, no hand sanitizer, no isopropyl alcohol, no thermometers.
Shelves are bare.
Manufacturers, distilleries, and other businesses switch their lines to help make visors, masks, hand sanitizer, and PPE.
Government closes the border to all non-essential travel.
Fines are established for breaking the rules.
Stadiums and recreation facilities open up for the overflow of Covid-19 patients.
Press conferences daily from the President. Daily updates on new cases, recoveries, and deaths.
Government incentives to stay home.
Barely anyone on the roads.
People wearing masks and gloves outside.
Essential service workers are terrified to go to work.
Medical field workers are afraid to go home to their families.

This is the Novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) Pandemic, declared March 11th, 2020.