Isolated Children of God

Month one came and dragged on and on. It pulled a tortoise and the hare on us. We spent the first two weeks in isolation. Due to… well you know why without even me having to say it, just by saying two weeks you know I,m talking COVID. It was all squad month, meaning all 34 of us were together, being unable to hang out with everyone when they are right there was not ideal but we made it work. I was one of the healthy folk so me and a few others took care of the ones who got sick. It started with only a couple people but by the middle it grew to about 20. Even though we weren’t out serving the community we got to serve our fellow squad peeps while inside, which was great but also had a few challenges (like needing to eat again after just cleaning up their last meal). It was a nice lesson in communication, patience, and the joy in serving others though, so BONUS! We also painted parts of the house that our amazing hosts let us stay in and prep the wall for a mural! Not all was lost. We did get to talk to the others sometimes whenever they were outside we would go out on the balcony or look out the windows. 

We weren’t allowed to mingle with anyone other then who was in our room. My roommates and I past the time by cringe laughing at some stand up dad jokes, watching the chosen, bible studies, worshiping, and some group workouts so we wouldn’t turn into statues. One of my favorite pass times, throwing pillows at the one on the bottom bunk who kept shaking the bed (you know who you are). Two out of the six in my room were not on my team and I actually hadn’t gotten to spend much time with yet, who knows if I would have spent anytime with them otherwise. I’m glad I got to spend that time with them they were so fun to get to know.

After the two weeks were up, some were ready to go but others had to stay. Half the people in my room got sick which meant they had to stay another two weeks. I was still healthy but had to wait a week before I could be tested again and be let out. The sick ones moved out and the last two healthy friends moved into our room. Since at this time only five of us were healthy and greatly outnumbered, we couldn’t serve them anymore and the original group got to serve us instead (since they were no longer contagious). This time around we had movie nights built forts, sleeping bag dance parties, and basically acted like a bunch of children, it was fantastic. We ordered a lot of takeout, mostly McDonald’s which schlaps (schlaps is good btw).

Even though we were upset at times not getting to leave, it was a good time. We can get so caught up every now and then about circumstances and what we would rather be doing that we overshadow the good things that happened. The last week flew by and we still tested negative so they relocated us to a new place with the other group of healthy friends that left at the very beginning to stay unexposed. And we hit the ground running. I will share more about that in the next blog.   TTYL