Wow! Elder LeBaron has been home for 136 days and is about to leave for Morristown, NJ to finish his last 10 months as a missionary. So much has happened since February 10th our last post. Elder LeBaron spent the couple of weeks with Elder Nelson. He absolutely loved him and he has become a close friend. On March 19th Elder Illunga became his companion and he was with him for a week and then COVID-19 happened and Elder Illunga was immediately transferred to Douala and Elder Summers became his comp for the next couple of weeks while they tried to get out of Cameroon. This was a very crazy time because he didn’t know if he would be able to come home after the announcement that ALL missionaries around the world would be sent home due to the pandemic. The federal government got involved and Senator Romney helped the church get a charter plane to get him out. It took ten days and every day was a roller coaster with spending the night at the airport and going back home because the airplane didn’t arrive. They went to the airport three times and finally on the third try ten days later they got out! They would first fly to Ethiopia, next to Dublin, then to DC, then Detroit, and finally arrived 30 hours later to Salt Lake City, UT.
The amazing part of this journey is that they had multiple baptisms and many opportunities to teach. It took many prayers, fasting, and faith to get him out. I say get him out because life was starting to get really scary for the missionaries. Many would yell at them in the streets thinking they were Chinese and brought this sickness to their country. Also they feared for their lives at times because the mobs would chase them, rocks thrown at them, and they ran for their lives to be safe. It was very scary. We thank the Lord that guardian angels were sent to protect them all and he arrived home to Salt Lake City, Utah on March 29, 2020. Again, he leaves Wednesday for Morristown, NJ, where he will most likely finish his mission for the next 10 months. I hope you enjoy these final pictures from Cameroon.
