Civil Unrest Leads to All Missionaries Leaving Nicaragua

2 Weeks ago (on May 22, 2018), The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints transferred out 169 of the 327 Missionaries serving in in Nicaragua (both the North and South Missions) due to civil unrest. Those with 2 or less transfers left were sent home while the others were reassigned. 158 Missionaries were left in Nicaragua and moved to "safer areas". Elder Vogt was one of the remaining 158 and was moved from Managua to Tipitapa.

Things kept escalating there and on Monday, June 4th the church quickly (and quietly!) got most of the 158 remaining missionaries out of the country and released this statement:

Church Transferring All Missionaries Out of Nicaragua

Missionary Update

4 JUNE 2018 - SALT LAKE CITY

 

 

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints released the following statement about the transfer of all of its missionaries out of Nicaragua:

In light of continued violence and deteriorating conditions in Nicaragua, the Church has decided to transfer the remaining 158 missionaries out of that country. Those missionaries are being moved to temporary assignments in North America, South America, the Caribbean and New Zealand. Most of these missionaries have already left the country. All others awaiting travel are in a safe location and will arrive in their new assignments in the next several days.

As part of this move, the Nicaragua Managua South Mission president and his young family have left the country and returned home. The Nicaragua Managua North Mission president and his companion will remain in Nicaragua for the time being to take care of some ecclesiastical responsibilities over local Church members. (note: President Poncio ended up leaving the country 3 days later for safety)

The Church will continue to monitor developments in Nicaragua and make a decision in the future regarding the eventual return of missionaries. In the meantime, we pray for peace and stability for all who live there during this uncertain time.

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We had received a quick message from Seth on Sunday (June 3rd) saying that he was headed to the Mission Home and he thought they'd be leaving the country. He didn't know if he was going to be coming home or reassigned to somewhere in the USA. We told him to use his debit card during his travels so that we could see where he "was". On Monday, June 4th, when we checked the bank we saw a charge from the Atlanta, Georgia Airport and new he'd been safely evacuated out of the country. We waited by our phones the entire day for word. At one point, I even called the Mission Office in Utah and asked if they could tell me where my son was - which they could not (they said for safety reasons) and that he would call me when he arrived at his new assignment. Around 8pm that night, we received a call from him stating that he'd been reassigned to the California Carlsbad Mission!

It was quite the change for him - a huge culture shock really (and I think he might have felt like he had just arrived into a "foreign" mission with how different everything was!) He was assigned to serve in Oceanside (Spanish Speaking) and was put into a Trio with Elders Morrison and Caswell. They treated him very well and helped with his transition. There was a total of 6 Missionaries from Nicaragua that were sent to that same mission (including his good friend, Elder Price).