COVID-19 and how my parents faced it   

Joseph Mendoza - Student  

Fri, 6 June 2025, at 6:00 pm MDT  

5 min read 

Spain suffered the consequences of the pandemic. My parents were alone in 2020. (Photo: Google Images). 

COVID-19 was a devastating world pandemic, carrying out many people's lives, illusions, goals, and dreams. In Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, people suffered serious consequences, which you will know as you read. Regarding my parents, they couldn't work normally and needed to stay home for a long time. Thus, how did they experience the pandemic during that time? What did they do? What were their feelings? In addition, I was serving a full-time mission in Mexico, and I couldn't be with them, which overwhelmed them. 

Canary Islands, the first place in locating the first infected person in Spain 

First, let's discuss the pandemic's effects on the Canary Islands. "The Canary Islands became the pilot stage for the pandemic in Spain, not only because of the first case, a German tourist, but also because just three weeks later, the first mass lockdown was implemented in Tenerife after an Italian tourist staying at the H10 Costa Adeje hotel, with nearly 1,000 people inside, tested positive," explained Christina Magdaleno and Jorge Morales, authors of this article. My parents lived 15 minutes away from that hotel. 

The H10 Costa Adeje Hotel 

Also, tourism — the most critical resource on the islands — decreased strongly, "Between 2020 and 2021, the Canary Islands lost 17.2 million tourists. National losses for the sector amount to more than €160 billion due to the impact of Covid-19," stated this article. Many hotels lost revenue and clients, and the islands looked like ghost cities. The most helpful resource on the island had disappeared. 

All this information shook the archipelago, and my family was also there. 

My parents shared their experiences with this catastrophic pandemic 

Rosa and Paul, with their grandson, Enzo. 

What better source of information than having it from my family living there? My parents were living in Cabo Blanco, a town away from the tourist part of the island. They were dismayed about the situation, the Church’s ward where they were attending, and concerned about me, their son, who was serving a mission in Mexico, and they were praying about how I was facing this terrible situation.  

My mother, Rosa, said: "During the COVID-19 pandemic, I experienced a lot of fear and isolation. One measure was using masks and social distancing to control the spread. We all found ourselves having to get vaccinated. I also couldn't work since I always went to someone's house and couldn't even go out. Furthermore, my husband and I watched my church meetings online since we couldn't gather in public places." 

Masks and social distancing impacted her everyday life. 

My father, Paul, also shared: “We realized the fragility of humanity in the face of a microscopic virus. We had to learn to ration food like water, oil, and milk and wear masks where we urgently needed to go. Anxiety and confusion spread throughout the town where we live. Every evening, we went out to our windows to applaud all the people facing this virus in their jobs: nurses, police officers, military personnel, and those in various services. Our streets were filled with silence and emptiness. It was a difficult time, but it taught us that we must always be prepared for these stages of life and value our surroundings, family, and homes.” 

Cabo Blanco’s streets. These were empty for many weeks. 

How did everything finish?  

As we can see, their experiences demonstrated they were afraid but ready to obey every rule the government gave them, but it was not easy. They could not live their lives normally for some time. However, with effort, patience, obedience, and a good desire to follow God’s revelations, they could win the battle against the consequences of COVID-19 and succeed. God had protected them because they followed everything He had commanded.  

Some months later, I finished my mission, and I returned home. I was praying for them and knew they would be in safe hands. When I arrived at the airport, I saw and hugged them, grateful to God for reuniting us again.  

Therefore, my parents invite you to be prepared and face any problem with obedience and faith, no matter how strong it might be. If you do it, the Lord will be with you, protect you, and finally make you succeed.