MOSINEE, WI (WSAU-WAOW) Judy Schroeder woke up to the news Easter morning that hundreds had been killed in a series of church bombings in Sri Lanka.
Schroeder’s niece, Monica Naumann, and her husband Edward, live in Colombo, Sri Lanka, with their six children. They’ve been there since 2016 as missionaries.
Schroeder spent the day praying and waiting with family to hear anything about the families whereabouts. “You don’t even know how to react, you don’t know what to say because you can’t call them, you can’t get in your car and go over there. All you can do is wait and wait,” she told WAOW-TV.
Schroeder said she usually connects with her family over social media, but that the Sri Lanka government had shut down all social media to keep fake information about the attacks from spreading.
After hours of waiting, Schroeder said she finally received an email from Edward, who said that his family was okay and had been at church a couple hours away when they heard about the bombings. Their home was near where one of the bombs exploded.
Although the news of their safety made Schroeder incredibly happy, the day was still difficult. “When you hear things that happen, you think, ‘Oh, I’m so sorry for those people’ and this and that, but when it’s your family, it’s a whole different story,” Schroeder said. “You’re wondering, was it their church that Edward was preaching at?”
Schroeder says for now her family is staying at home. There is a nation-wide curfew and schools have been closed.