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SALT LAKE CITY — As the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints continues to move missionaries out of Ebola-stricken Africa, one returned missionary says the elders want to stay.
"I just feel so bad for all those missionaries who have to leave the country because they are all in love with it. I got an email from one of my previous companions, like a week ago, and he said I just hope we don't have to leave this country because I love this country and I can't leave it," said recently returned missionary Ryan Weller.
Weller said he completed his two year mission in Sierra Leone about a month ago, but when it was time to come home he too didn’t want to leave.
"I really learned to love those people, like they're my family. Honestly, leaving them was harder than leaving my family," Weller said. “The people of Sierra Leone are some of the most kind and generous and loving people that I have ever met. Very accepting and willing to talk to anyone really. They are very, very kind.”
Now that he is back in Utah, Weller said he is stuck waiting for news from the people he served with and the members he grew to count as family.
"I am very worried. Every day I am on the internet reading the latest about what's going on over there, because I can't have daily contact with people in the country," he said. "It makes me really nervous. I hope they can get it under control soon so it doesn't kill too many people."
When I was there nobody was really worried about the disease, to be honest. The people were just saying that's in Guinea, that's in Liberia, that's not going to come here (to Sierra Leone). They weren't really worried about it when I was there.
–Ryan Weller
As of Sunday, the World Health Organization said it suspected over 1,300 people had caught the disease in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria. Nearly 800 of those patients have died from the disease.
Weller said the locals he keeps in touch with are now taking steps to avoid infection, but when he was still in the country, and Ebola was just a rumor, no one took the virus seriously.
"When I was there nobody was really worried about the disease, to be honest. The people were just saying that's in Guinea, that's in Liberia, that's not going to come here (to Sierra Leone). They weren't really worried about it when I was there,” Weller said.
He said the LDS Church was much more serious. As soon as infection began spreading in surrounding countries, Weller said missions tightened down on the elders.
“From the mission viewpoint, they were very worried," Weller said. "The mission put in a lot of precautions for the missionaries to stay healthy and stay away from getting sick. But a lot of the people that were there, they weren't really cautious. They weren't very worried about it. But I am sure now that's a very different story since it's now spread over most of the major cities of the country."
Now Weller said he can only wait to hear news and hope the disease doesn’t strike anyone he knows.
“My heart hurts for the people there, knowing that they are going to have a really hard time getting it under control and that now because they are having to pull out all of the missionaries there that the Lord’s work is halted,” he said.
Contributing: Anne Forester
Brianna is a reporter and weekend anchor for KSL News Radio. Contact her at: bbodily@ksl.com
