by donna
Our month of February was spent in domestic quarantine! A first in a lifetime experience! As the number of cases of individuals infected with the Covid-19 virus in neighboring China was extremely high and rising exponentially at the beginning of the month, the government of Macau decided to basically shut down the city. The rules of conduct were short and to the point: Stay at home, wash your hands frequently, wear a mask whenever outside and try to keep a good distance from others. All businesses, restaurants, government agencies, and medium and small size businesses were closed. All public events, church services, large dinners or assemblies and sporting events were canceled. In an unprecedented move, all casinos in the city were ordered to shut their doors and the number of tourists diminished drastically and rapidly. Overnight, the streets of the world’s most densely populated territory became a ghost town. All schools have been shut down and an effective online home education program is now in place. Fortunately, many are working from home to prevent circulation and thus the spread of the disease. Thankfully, the government has acted swiftly and efficiently to take all the necessary cautions of disease prevention as well make sure the citizens are supplied with basic needs in the supermarkets and also have access to the required facial masks and necessary medical care if needed. Although all these measures may be seen as extreme, the fact is that the spread of the Corona virus has effectively been halted and it has been nearly one month that no new cases have been reported! Praise God!
In result of this, we left our rented apartment in China earlier than expected, and moved to Macau. We are already implementing the home school program so we had no stress in adapting to a new system and Jason kept up with his lesson plan, business as usual. Our home here is far from the city center so we don’t have any issues with overcrowding, with various venues for outdoor exercise at our convenience. Jorge and Jason were diligent to complete more home improvement projects and also found opportunity to reconstruct our neighbor’s front porch covering. Jason also tried his hand at some new skills in the kitchen and we can now depend on him for some delicious meal preparations!
The main difference we encountered last month was a lack of fellowship but things are opening up and we are looking forward to more interaction in the coming month. “To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven.”
We are definitely trusting in the Lord to deliver us from this virus and in the presence of this global outbreak we pray that many will find Jesus as their refuge in the storm and their rock in a weary land.
