Mom Notes:
Elder Hadley asked if me today if I would write down some of his experiences these last 10 days up to this point and we all know this blog has become his journal. He could write a book just on this week alone but don’t worry I wrote the book for him. 😁 This post is more for Parker than anything so he can have this documented. We have felt every emotion you could imagine and then some and years down the road we will be glad we have the timeline of this historic event.
Sunday 3/15 Argentina closed their boarders due to the close relationship they have with Italy. There were 12 direct flights a day that would go Italy from the Ezeiza International Airport which was Parker’s last area and about 20 mins from where he is now.
Thursday 3/19 Parker went to the Ward Mission Leaders home to video call us and tell us that the whole country was going to be quarantined and boarders were going to be closed until 3/31 (this was later extended to April 13th). Their quarantine experience was going to be different from ours because police and military were going to be in the streets.
Only one person from each family could leave to go to the store. If there was more than one person then you would be arrested. Parker and his companion were told to go to the store before quarantine and buy groceries which they did not find very much food and then they would have to carry their food for quite a distance. We said goodbye and he said I will talk to you again in April.
Sunday 3/22 Received a Letter from President Fernandez that all missionaries were leaving South America. Sister Fernandez messaged us later that night and gave us Elder Hadley’s phone number and said that we could call it on Monday, but he could not call us with it being an old flip phone without international calling.
Monday 3/23 Tried for over an hour to be able to make a call to Argentina using many different options. We finally got through and his companion answered in Spanish. We kept saying Elder Hadley, Elder Hadley and Elder Marino said we are sleeping (it was noon) and hung up on us. We did not even know if we were calling Argentina at that point. We called again and same companion answered, and we said Elder Hadley again and he responded, Elder Hadley Mom?
Finally, Parker got the phone. We told him that we had permission to call from his Mission Mom. We talked about his feelings about the news he had heard the day before about leaving his mission. He was frustrated and confused since he had a strong feeling that they would be staying in Argentina and just wait it out.
Parker understood why they were moving the missionaries and trusted that his next step would be what was supposed to happen. Parker told us that he has worked as hard and he could these last 9 months the minute he became a missionary and realizes that he had a lot of great experiences and success in just 9 months.
Some of his missionary buddies were able to call him which made him happy to talk with them. His CCM buddies said they had been trying to get his phone number for 3 days! We were very glad that he could now talk with them and they could help each other during this time.
We asked him when he would like us to call him again and he said Wednesday to check in on him.
Wednesday 3/25 Parker sounded very tired and drained. They were eating 1 meal a day. It was planned that the members would bring the missionaries lunch each day, but Parker’s area is a 30 min drive away and that is a lot to ask of the members while the police and military were in the streets. The neighboring mission had four missionaries arrested so they did not want to take a chance of going to the store since they have to go in pairs.
We asked him what he was eating, and he said eggs and rice and he would only eat enough until his stomach would stop hurting. They tried to teach some people through their flip phone on Monday, but it just did not work as well as they had hoped, and they have never taught this way before. They said that most of Argentina was sleeping and only waking up to eat so calling to teach a lesson was not as promising as they had hoped.
With very little food they were not exercising and doing their best to keep up their energy up. He has said that on Tuesday the day before they had slept for 20 hours.
During this conversation Parker was also giving us a list of what he would like to eat when he gets home. He main question was, Is Café Rio still open? 😂
A video was posted on social media of President Uchtdorf that was to give comfort to those missionaries processing the changes with their missionary assignments. Parker’s Mission President had posted it in Spanish and English. We asked him if he wanted to hear it and he said yes then asked if we had it in Spanish so that his companion could also listen to it.
We put the video on the speaker phone and listened for 5 mins of this beautiful message throughout our home in Spanish. This was a moment I will not forget. A message from an Apostle to help let them know they are not alone and a message of guidance that was recorded that same day and was able to be heard by two missionaries with a flip phone in a small humble apartment in the middle of Buenos Aires.
The Lord cares about each and every one of us and it was such a blessing to play a part in delivering that message to two of the Lord’s missionaries.
Parker asked us to call them the next day and check in on them.
Thursday 3/26 We called for a couple minutes in the morning and told him we would call back later that night to talk more. Parker said that he and his companion had decided to fast for the day. We told them that we did not think that was a good idea and asked if they were fasting to save food and he said Yes. We talked them into eating an orange and not fasting for the day. They also were out of toilet paper but had a really nasty bidet in their apartment. 😳
I also told Elder Hadley that some of the people he had taught from Argentina had been contacting me and I was able to share Elder Uchtdorf’s message in Spanish with them. Parker was so excited that his Mom back in Utah was able to do some missionary work for him in Argentina since he could not.
Thursday evening there was a change in Parker’s voice for the better! They found a guy who would deliver a pizza to them in their apartment!!! Parker ordered two and said it was a huge miracle!!! We said it was like manna dropped down from heaven! He ate one pizza that night and saved the other for the next day. You could tell his energy was back.
Parker had been calling a bunch of pizzerias all week and finally one had answered their phone. More great news was that he heard that they were trying to get the BAS missionaries home for Conference. This was the first we had heard of anything of an actual time frame. This was a great phone call and we all slept better that night.
Friday 3/27 Elder Hadley and Elder Marino got a smart phone brought to them!!! Parker called us from Goggle Hangouts (no video). He said he hit the jackpot because in 12 hours he got a pizza and a smart phone! The Mission President said this would help the missionaries to be able to communicate with their families! It was fantastic to be able to speak with them and President had given them permission to go to the store to get more food and toilet paper.
The Elder’s Quorum President came and picked them up and this was a big sacrifice for him to leave because he lives a 30 min drive from their apartment. Elder Hadley does not live in his area and to get to his area they wait at a bus stop for 40 mins for a bus to show up then travel 20 mins to get to his area.
Since the buses are not working and they have to stay inside, this was a risky move with police and military out, but they quickly left. They ducked down in the car and when they got out Elder Hadley and Elder Marino split up in the store and quickly grabbed some items, so it did not look like they were together. They quickly drove back, and Parker said it was like he was a Deer during Hunting Season and he prefers to be on the other side of the gun.
At 9:00pm Buenos Aires time Parker took the phone out to the porch listen and experience something special. Every night and 9:00 the community comes out to clap and whistle. This is not the norm but has been happening every night since the quarantine. It is a great sense of community to feel united through this ritual each night.
We were able to play on the speaker phone President Nelson’s message of hope and invitation to fast for this great companionship. We have been able to have some incredible conversations and times of reflection that have invited the Spirit during such a stressful situation.
Saturday 3/28 Parker called us with great news Saturday morning and he said they are flying us out on Monday morning!!! Such a huge relief and we all celebrated but it also sunk in that he was hours away from leaving Argentina. Such mixed emotions for all of us!
We talked about how to pack strategically because we had heard of many missionaries having to leave suitcases behind. Packing a missionary for Argentina is no small feat since you cannot mail them anything and then bringing it all back proves to also be difficult.
We told him to back only the most important things that he could not replace in his backpack. Plan to leave his carry on and pack his two suitcases with the thought in mind on leaving one behind. We sent him with a luggage scale and that has been very helpful for him. Since his bags had been packed since Sunday, he had already weighed all three suitcases to 50 lbs. including his carry on which had all of his MTC Spanish books. McKay told him he could leave those behind, and she would give him her Spanish books.
Parker left all 14 of his white shirts (7 short, 7 long) behind except the one his was wearing. He gave one of his suits to his companion and he was very excited because it fit him well. He also left his sleeping bag and many other things that I think he did not want to tell me about.
They tried to go to a store again on their own to buy a few things now that they knew Parker was leaving but the little stores were closed, and the police started coming down the street so they hurried back to their apartment. Parker ordered his last Argentine pizza and he was ready to come home.
Sunday 3/29 The underground operation to get Elder Hadley out of Argentina was starting. Parker called us this afternoon just before a member was coming to pick him up. The member was also bringing Elder Morales from Mexico City to become Elder Marino’s new companion. Elder Morales is new to the mission and Parker hopes that he can use some of the things that he left. They will also soon leave the mission, but we don’t know when.
This is a huge sacrifice for these members to help transport these missionaries on a Sunday and leaving their families hoping that they don’t get arrested. Parker said that it does not look very good to drive up and pick up a foreigner with large black suitcases.
The member was taking Elder Hadley to a Stake Center an hour away to meet up with all of the North America missionaries tonight where they will stay the night. At around 2:00-3:00am they will start to move the missionaries to the airport and two charter planes will leave around 7:00am and fly directly to Salt Lake City (11-12 hours) with no layovers. This is also a huge blessing that it is a straight flight!
We told Parker to grab a couch in the foyer to sleep and he said they have plenty of pews for all the missionaries. Tonight, he is planning to have his final interview with President Fernandez which I am sure will be a tender moment.
While we were talking to Elder Hadley his ride showed up, so he needed to give the phone back to his companion. But before he did this, we said family prayer together and prayed for all those helping with this enormous task and these incredible missionaries that are saying goodbye to a time that is so precious to them including Elder Hadley.
So now we wait… and hope that everything goes as planned for the first flight out of Argentina!
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Argentina Buenos Aires South Mission 💗 157 Missionaries151 Leaving - 6 Staying Elder Hadley is front row 3rd in from the right |
