Prayer Focus for HST

Dear 25th Year HST Families,
First, I would like to ask for prayers that God will send His Holy Spirit to calm the current situation so that *decisions can be made with prudence, not panic*. Please remember that fear never comes from God. Perfect faith has no fear.
Second, *I wish to take some of the drama out of the dramatic events going on.* T*his pandemic is a flu – not the plague*. Most people who get corona virus will not get any sicker than if they had a regular flu. That said, senior citizens and people with compromised immune systems are at greater risk (as they are with regular flu). *Right now there are 12 confirmed cases in the STATE which has 6.043 MILLION people*. I am not judging the decisions being made to stop the spread of this virus, but I do not want to jump on the panic wagon.
Conclusion – HST is holding all rehearsals/classes tomorrow. *We will take the following precautions:*
– Since it is supposed to be a lovely 70 degrees, *students who eat lunch at Redland will eat outside.* – *We will open windows in all rooms*. If the rooms get cold, students may wear their jackets (*we will waive the “only HST Hoodie” policy for tomorrow)*. – We will *modify check-in and sign out so that it is done in each class/troupe* (there will be a clipboard in the room). *All students will be allowed to sign themselves out* before they leave their last class of the day. – This will allow students to go directly to their class/rehearsal space, limiting the # of people they come in contact with.
We will still have parents meeting at my home to sew tomorrow and Saturday as well as set building in my yard. Again – there is plenty of soap for washing hands and I love having my windows open. *This is HST’s “crunch” time,* so* we need to continue working efficiently so that we will be able to adapt as needed for our show season. *
The witness that parents can give in this situation is to model trust. *Faith is easy when everything is going well, but what about when things are uncertain*? *Can we have faith that God will protect us? * YES, we can.
Let me give you an example of God’s protection.
– Eight years ago we had 3 families out of 100 get lice right before we were going into the theater for Showcase. That show has over 500 costumes – which are stacked and hung right next to each other, making contamination seem impossible to avoid. The City of Rockville considered shutting us down. However, we had put such prudent procedures in place that they were reassured there would not be an “epidemic” and, in fact, there was ZERO spreading during that show or the subsequent 4 shows. Were we prudent? Yes. Did we work hard to put safety procedures in place? Yes. Will we do this same this year – absolutely.
I do not know what next week holds but I promise I will be prayerfully seeking God’s guidance (and I will greatly appreciate your prayers for my discernment). We can only deal with today – and today we are planning to hold classes tomorrow.
Finally, *if you have a student who is immune compromised and your discernment is to keep them home, there will not be a fine*. However, *we would appreciate being notified ASAP.*
Blessings, Marilyn