The following announcement was made by the Church on Friday (Mar 20):
The following temporary adjustments are being made to missionary work in response to developing travel advisories and restrictions emerging around the world:
1. In the coming weeks, based upon world conditions, substantial numbers of missionaries will likely need to be returned to their home nations to continue their service. This will be done in a systematic way based on the urgency of travel restrictions, level of COVID-19 concern, and other considerations.
2. Returning missionaries will go through a 14-day period of self-isolation and then may be assigned to serve within their home country, based on local conditions.
3. The term of service for missionaries returning to or serving within the United States will likely be reduced to accommodate the large number of missionaries returning from around the world.
4. Missionary Training Centers worldwide will not receive new missionaries. MTC training for missionaries will take place through technology, and missionaries will be sent to their assigned mission as soon as possible.
“We take very seriously the health and safety of our missionaries and of those they teach. … We are grateful for the continued prayers and support of parents, loved ones and Church members as we make every effort to help them remain safe and well in these challenging times.” —The First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
The main impact for Seth is that he will presumably no longer be going to the New Zealand MTC in June, but will be doing his MTC training remotely.
Elissa has suggested that when Seth starts his MTC training that we will actually set up the downstairs as a formal training area for him. This will hopefully allow him to be able to focus more on the training and not be distracted by day to day surroundings.
We've also been speculating about other people he knows that could come back from overseas and serve in Australia. Connor Dowe is heading to Melbourne. Holly Olde will presumably come back from Japan. Sister Pauga will presumably come back from Tahiti. Emilio Punou will be back from the Phillipines. Bronx Vakalahi may be back from PNG. There could be a number of people that Seth might know that end up in his mission.
There will likely be more changes as the situation worsens. It will be interesting to see if he does make it out into Adelaide on his expected transfer date of 01st July.
