Alex was transferred

I didn't post yesterday waiting for more news of Alex's transfer. I will put his email at the end of the post.

Basically, it's been crazy for him. He is very close to his last area, so still in Salt Lake and near the mission home. He's had several companions over the last few days due to the changes COVID-19 has brought about. And is basically training a new missionary--sort of. John Bytheway (we own several of his books and talks on cds) is the High Councilor over missionary work and they video conferenced yesterday. Cool.

As for Fallon news, there isn't much. We are sticking pretty close to home. I've made graham crackers (last week) and almond bon bon cookies. Glen made grape nuts (again), wheat thins, and 2 batches of graham crackers (burning the first batch and burning up the motor on the food processor on the 2nd--but they are delicious). Angeles made banana bread...and then I did. Saw a joke online--I've already gained 9 pounds of my COVID-19. Not planning on that, though.

making grape nuts

Glen spent a lot of time on school work, of course, but this week is Spring Break, so he won't be dealing with video conferencing his students, at least, though he'll still be making lesson plans, etc.

talking to his theatre students (and the vice principal joined in, too)

Glen has also spent some time on home repairs.

I was having a hard time keeping track of the days, so I found a way to remind me of the date:

Tuesday Eric treated us to take-out from the new Indian restaurant. Delicious. Thanks, Eric.

Glen's sister Teresa and her husband Matt received their mission call this week! They will be serving for a year in the Manhattan New York temple starting in September. Congratulations, Matt and Teresa!

Still waiting for things to sprout in the garden. Still playing games. Still doing okay. Still feeling like all this is unreal.


Anyway, here's Alex's letter this week (transfers were bumped up due to the MTC closing and the new missionaries arriving a week earlier than originally planned):


Let's start from the beginning instead of the crazy part, I suppose?

I already told you about last Monday. We went hiking and such and it was a good time. Told everyone I would see them at District Council.

On Tuesday it was announced that transfers would be shifted up to Friday the 27th instead of Thursday, April 2nd. (Which means no district council, which means no seeing my district again :( )

We went into the office that day and the next and learned many transfer board secrets. We learned details about my new area (oh, yeah, I probably should have stated that at the start of the email. I've transferred!), all the people that would be going to Wyoming, and that there would be 10-13ish whitewashes.

It ended up being 14 whitewashes. 14. (I got whitewashed into an area.)

The transfer board was released, I would be whitewashed into Winder with Elder Alba. Elder Alba would be our district leader. He has been Zone Leader for the past while, and would be leaving this transfer.

Winder is 1 stake, 5 wards and a branch. It's pretty much right down the street from where I was before. Super close to my previous area.

We got to help out at the Bishop's storehouse, which was fun.

We then had transfers. I'm going to miss Elder Wilkins. We are both still tech missionaries for now, so I'll still get to talk to him and such, which is awesome.

Our new apartment is super nice. It has a washer and dryer, which is sweet because we are not allowed to use public ones or let members do our laundry anymore.

Elder Alba told me that he would actually be going home in a week or two, so that was surprising news.

Our area (and apartment) was in disarray when we arrived. The Elders before us, um, well, we don't have to talk about it, though.

Saturday night, guess who knocked on our door?! Elder Wood! Along with the two current zone leaders of my previous zone! I actually got to say goodbye to Elder Wood, which was great :)

An hour later I learned that John Bytheway is our High Councilor person over missionary work!! How cool is that! We got to video chat with him on Sunday, which was a blast. So cool.

Later that night, around 9:30pm, Elder Alba learned that he would be leaving on a plane at 5:30am the next day. President Prier was going to pick us up in a half an hour. Elder Alba chucked everything into suitcases and rushed to pack; I packed an overnight bag because they didn't know where they would be putting me yet.

President picked us up, and we went to the hotel where Elder Alba along with 6 other missionaries would be staying before they left early in the morning (that included two other Elders from our district).

I ended up spending the night with the AP's (Assistants to the President)! So much fun. They're so great to be with.

We had sacrament together the next morning.

They then dropped me off with two Elders. My new companion, Elder Niutupuivaha, and Elder Bonnamy, who would be getting on a plane the next morning. The apartment was going to have no missionaries in it for a while, so we spent the day cleaning and doing various other things.

The AP's picked up Elder Bonnamy, and Elder Niutupuivaha and I went to our apartment.

Elder Niutupuivaha is Tongan, but from Hawaii. He is visa-waiting to go to Kiribati, Marshall Islands, and has been out for 2 weeks now. Which means I'm training now. Which is wild. The AP's aren't sure yet if I'll be getting another different companion sometime soon or not.

That was my week. Lots of things, especially in the past 48 hours. Things are well, although a bit overwhelming, not going to lie.

Oh, yeah, last notes: Since Elder Alba and the two other Elders in our district left, we currently don't have an official district leader and our district is comprised of two elders and two sisters (although obviously that will all change soon).

Coronavirus is wild.

Love you all!

~Elder Perazzo

week 1, kind of like Spring Break

This week was a bit crazy. It does kind of seem like a vacation, but we are definitely watching the news carefully and we spend a lot of time washing our hands.

Wednesday there was a 5.7 earthquake in the Salt Lake area. Alex is fine, but they are having to stay in their apartment and do their missionary work via technology, They were given extra money and time to go grocery shopping so they could stock up. He seems to be doing very well.

Then on Friday the Carson area had a 4.5 earthquake. Some in Fallon felt it, though none of us here did.

Glen didn't go to school this week, but had to still do plenty of school work in preparing lesson plans that can be done remotely. Remote learning (or whatever it's being called) started on Wednesday.  The soonest school would resume would be Thursday, April 16th, but we are thinking it won't happen that soon.

Glen and Angeles, with some help from Ryan, spent time preparing a spot and then planted peas, lettuce, and spinach. We hope to get part of the big garden rototilled this week so other things can be planted. Glen also took the time to make grape-nuts. They are quite good! He wants to make wheat thins next.

Hannah and I tackled trying to declutter and organize the back bedrooms. She is going to use her new interior design skills to redo Alex's bedroom.

Besides that project, I got to play more with alcohol inks. My friend had a birthday this week and 4 of us got together to decorate ceramic tiles. It was so much fun that I came home and did a few more. I also sewed my quilt block from last month's museum class and made myself a new apron. So, it sounds like I was productive, but I also really wasted a lot of time this week.

And, of course, we have taken the opportunity to play some games.

Yesterday, March 21st, was the 45th anniversary of my baptism into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. What a great blessing my membership in this Church has been. I can't imagine my life without its guiding principles and am really looking forward to General Conference in 2 weeks.

Yesterday was also an important day in that my brother-in-law, Alan, got married! I haven't even met Debbie yet as I was in Oregon when she came to a family dinner here. Due to COVID-19, we weren't invited to the wedding. No matter. We wish them the best and as she will now live across the street from me, I'm sure I'll meet her at some point!

We had been to the store several times this past week, but are going to try and not even do that this next week. Really trying to quarantine ourselves. We are making the best of it, and at this time are doing well, but we realize not everyone is. Our thoughts and prayers are with those who are struggling.

family, church, faith not fear

I made it back home safely from Oregon 10 days ago. It's good to be home, but I wish my mom lived closer so it would be easier to pop in and see her.

Friday was the end of the 3rd quarter at school, so Glen only has 1 quarter to go before he retires! And we just found out a few hours ago that "all NV schools are going to be closing to students and staff on Monday, March 16-April 3.  No later than Monday, March 23, teachers and students will engage learning from a distance activities." So Glen will be teaching remotely in some form for the next few weeks. Hmm. Will he still be stapling his ties to the wall? On his office wall here at home???

Ryan and Angeles arrived safely on Thursday the 12th. While I was talking to Hannah Thursday afternoon before Ryan and Angeles arrived, it was determined that, since classes had been cancelled and would be going online for Hannah and they didn't need to stay in Utah, Hannah and Kaellen would come here for about 5 weeks until the new semester started. So they arrived on Friday!

So, we now have 7 in our house and it's wonderful!

Church services and activities in our chapels have been cancelled for a while. Starting tomorrow all the temples will be closed for a while, too, but Glen, Angeles, Hannah, and I were able to go yesterday. A storm was coming in, but we managed to leave just as it was starting to snow in Reno. It did not snow in Fallon, btw. So happy we were able to attend one last time before they close!

you can't see the flakes well, but they were falling

When we arrived home, Eric, Ryan, and Kaellen had cooked for dinner for us (which was actually breakfast--eggs, bacon, pancakes, oj, hash browns, and Ryan had made a loaf of bread!). It was great.

Today we held our own services as directed by Church headquarters. Hannah and Kaellen had even printed a program for us. Besides the program, there were also announcements and they were a riot.

It listed the family birthdays coming up, and apparently we are going to have a Book of Mormon study group nightly from 7:15-8 hosted by "the Johnsons." "Bro + Sis Ryan and Angeles" will be taking charge of a Come, Follow Me study group with the date and time TBD.

There was also posted contact info for Andrew and his family, Alex, Grandma Jervis, and Grandpa Perazzo.

For help with missionary work, she says to contact Alex. For indexing help, contact Glen. For scheduling the build she says to "ask your parents permission." My daughter is a riot, like I said.

Our services were so wonderful--uplifting and informative. Glen conducted. I played the piano and Hannah led the hymns. Hannah and Kaellen sang a special musical number for us (I am a Child of God). Kaellen and Eric gave the prayers.

Angeles and Ryan were our speakers (they had just spoken in California last week, so they just tweaked their talks from then with the topic of how following President Russell M. Nelson's invitation to study the Restoration of the Church had been a blessing). They gave fabulous messages. It really was a wonderful service.

Then, Hannah was in charge of Sunday School where we watched the following video on Jacob 1-4 in the Book of Mormon. It's long, but it was good.

We are doing well and are glad for a pantry full of food and toilet paper. We pray for everyone's health and well being and for a quick end to the pandemic. We are all in the Lord's hands and are grateful for living prophets who have helped up prepare for the challenges of life.

going home tomorrow

Happy Birthday today to my sister-in-law, Melissa!

It's been a good 2 weeks here in Brookings. Sunny almost all the time. Snowed in Fallon Saturday night. Not here!

Mom's been very busy sorting and cleaning and organizing. I've had a few minor projects. Been enjoying the new art work on the cement wall. Got some good deals at the thrift store. And just found out that Ryan and Angeles are moving to our house for the summer (we had invited them but didn't know if they were coming or not)! They'll be here next week.

March 2nd

March 3rd

March 3rd

March 3rd