It's been such a mixed blessing to come home early from our mission—lots of feelings pro and con. People who know us comment, "So happy you are back!" But we are not sure we are happy to be here. Yes, it was a relief to leave Argentina as conditions started to get more and more complicated, and likely would have worsened for us as foreigners in the country. Yes, it has been a joy to be with our family again so much earlier than expected. But the overriding feeling when we left Argentina was, "We are not done yet!" We were really enjoying what we were doing, getting more confident and competent, and becoming more effective after 6 months of service.
We were not released when we came home. We were told that we would be able to return to our assignment when (if?) conditions improved sufficiently. So now we are carefully tracking the progress of the coronavirus in both the US and Argentina, hoping and praying that we will be able to go back. So far Argentina's strict and aggressive measures to control the spread seem to be doing fairly well; hard to say if the coming winter season in the southern hemisphere will bring wider spread. Meanwhile the USA seems to be struggling, so even if Argentina escapes serious infections they may not be eager to have North Americans return! Only time will tell.
