Back to Church!! Yeah!

It's been 16 weeks since I attended church.  Last time was in Mary's ward in Harper's Ferry, West Virginia on March 1st.  We missed the next two weeks because we were traveling and then President Nelson announced that all church services worldwide would be discontinued.

 I have loved our 'home church'.  It has been sweet to have George pass the sacrament to just the two of us and to discuss what we have learned as we've individually studied 'Come Follow Me' during the week.  I even played the opening hymn for us once.

We've also had some excellent 'Zoom' meetings with our ward with missionary reports, talks, lessons, and even special musical numbers.

Even though I did enjoy the "home church"  and "virtual church" it felt good to go back today.

Our Bishop received 5 pages of very specific instructions as to how this was to happen.  There are 8 wards or congregation in our Stake.  For the 'reopening' we are using 2 buildings, 4 wards to a building.  Each ward is assigned one week per month so for the foreseeable future we will attend church services one Sunday a month, have 'Zoom' lessons or meetings on the other 3.  1/2 of our ward attended a 45 minute meeting at 10:30 and the other half at 12:00.  The building was cleaned in-between meetings.

The building was set up like this. As you can see, we sat on every other row.  This made it possible for the Priesthood holders who passed the sacrament to walk down the unoccupied rows rather than having us pass the tray down the row as we usually do.  Everyone who blessed or passed the sacrament wore a mask and gloves.  The water was set in every other spot on the tray.  The bread was  also in the small cups usually used for water.  We didn't return the cups but were asked to put them into ziplock bags which were provided and then throw them away.  Inside the bags, there was an antibacterial wipe for us to use to clean all hard surfaces around us when the meeting was over.

They asked us not to use the water fountains, to maintain proper social distancing and to not 'linger' in the building.  That was the hardest part since we haven't seen each other in the last several months. We really wanted to visit!

I felt perfectly safe and protected.  My only problem was that I felt my 'dry scratchy throat cough'  coming after we sang.  I didn't want anyone giving me the stink eye, so I quickly went outside before the 1st cough, coughed a few times and then went to the kitchen where I found some Dixie cups so I had a drink and then went back into sacrament meeting carrying some water.  It worked.  I didn't create panic by having a coughing fit!

The rule is that if anyone who has attended any of our meetings tests positive. we have to immediately stop all meetings.  Idaho is having a bit of a spike in cases so that could happen.  However, I feel confident following the direction of my church leaders.  It was also made clear that no one should feel that they are OBLIGATED to come to church.  If you are not comfortable attending the meeting with others, then you should stay home and continue 'home church'.