On May 19th,2020 Hannah Fitzgerald shared the following post in a Facebook group.
I am one of the missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who has been dealing with Coronavirus. Here is a piece of my story.
What is a ๐บ๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐น๐ฒ? There are many definitions of what a miracle is. One is โa highly improbable or extraordinary event, or development that brings very welcome consequences that are unexplainable or defy the laws of science; usually attributed to a higher being or anotherโs charitable doing.โ
โ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ถ๐ด, ๐บ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ท๐บ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ, ๐ค๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ.โ
I have been battling the novel Coronavirus for 47 days now as a full-time missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In that time, I have seen many miracles; some big, some small. Whether it was receiving a needed message from a friend or having a miserable hour seemingly pass in minutes. No matter the size, each altered my journey for the better. I canโt explain most of them and the gravity of how much each meant to me. My heart has been filled with gratitude and love time after time.
โ๐๐ฆโ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ด๐ข๐ง๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐จ๐ถ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ, ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ฎ๐ข๐บ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต. ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ถ๐ด.โ
On Tuesday, I was told that I would be returning home and ending my service as a missionary permanently due to the severity and longevity of my illness. I was heartbroken. I only hit my 4-month mark this past week. I love being a missionary. The experiences Iโve had and people I have met while serving have changed my life forever. I wouldnโt trade them for anything.
Later that evening, I was told that I would be given ๐ฎ ๐๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ธ๐ in the field to see if I could improve my condition. Not wanting to waste a minute, the next morning I coordinated with my mission leaders and immediately scheduled appointments with my physician from home, whoโs also a dear family friend. He helped get me onto medications and programs to attempt to usher in a breakthrough despite the lack of time.
Days went by with nothing. I poured out my heart to God multiple times a day with gratitude and hope to soon see development. I was beginning to think that I was never going to see any turn of good. However, I never gave up hope or lost my faith. ๐ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐ฑ๐ผ๐๐ฏ๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ ๐๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐ฑ. I knew God heard my prayers and knew about my predicament.
โ๐๐ฆโ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ, ๐ช๐ง ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐๐ช๐ด ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ. ๐๐ฉ, ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ.โ
Things never happen on our time. We experience trials in life on the timeline that God needs us to. He gives us these obstacles to grow and learn to rely on Him. I wouldโve never thought 4 months ago that I would be not in my original mission, in solitary quarantine for over 40 days, with a pandemic virus threatening to end my service early.
โ๐๐ฆโ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ณ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถโ๐ท๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐บ.โ
While itโs been miserable, challenging, scary, and uncertain, I would not trade this experience for anything. The lessons that I have learned while enduring, are priceless. I have grown closer to my Heavenly Father and Savior. I have been humbled repeatedly. My testimony has grown tremendously in submitting to Godโs will cheerfully through prayer and relying on Him and Christ and His Atonement.
โ๐๐ช๐ด ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ญ๐บ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ณ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ฏ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ.โ
In the words of President Monson, โOur Heavenly Father…knows that we learn and grow and become stronger as we face and survive the trials through which we must pass. We know that there are times when we will experience heartbreaking sorrow, when we will grieve, and when we may be tested to our limits. However, such difficulties allow us to change for the better, to rebuild our lives in the way our Heavenly Father teaches us, and to become something different from what we wereโbetter than we were, more understanding than we were, more empathetic than we were, with stronger testimonies than we had before.โ
โ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ถ๐ด ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ด๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ข. ๐๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ญ๐บ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ.โ
It is a miracle that I am still out as a missionary. It is a miracle that I was called to serve at this specific time. It is a miracle that I was destined to meet the people that I have and that they have been by my side throughout this since day one. It is a miracle that I was sent to Colorado Springs twelve hours before I was supposed to be on a plane to Vietnam. ๐๐ ๐ถ๐ ๐ฎ ๐บ๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐น๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ ๐ต๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ป๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ ๐๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ ๐ด๐ฒ๐ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ.
โ๐๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ด, โ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ฆ.โโ
One of my best friends once wrote down this poem for me in the MTC and it has stuck with me ever since.
My future as a full-time missionary is still unknown, but I know that because of this trial, I have become a better person and have grown closer to my Savior Jesus Christ. He has not left me alone. He has already walked this same path which has allowed Him to comfort not just me, but ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ through their sorrows when we turn to Him. Turn to Him and He will help you.
โ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ถ๐ด.โ
Whatever happens in the next 8 days, I know that I will be where God needs me to be; whether thatโs still a missionary or back home. I am incredibly grateful for the love, support, and care Iโve received from near and far. I know God is watching out for me and I believe that miracles will continue to come. I bear this testimony humbly in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
UPDATE: Sister Fitzgerald shared the following update on her Facebook account on June 4th:
