The sun was just starting to set, we were driving on the freeway with our windows wound down and the cool breeze rushing in like a river rushes over the rocks. It seemed like the perfect Friday evening. As we got closer to the area of the campsite, we realized that there was no place for a campsite anywhere. It seemed as though this area was a ghost town, there were hardly any buildings and no cars on the road, but we tried our best to find the campsite ourselves. We called our Pathfinder leader Sheila and asked her for directions. It turned out that the campsite was behind a house that was on the property. A few moments later we saw our Pathfinder leader coming to show us where to drive.
As we drove into the campsite we saw the blaze of the campfire with figures sitting around it. We unpacked our camping equipment and started setting up for the night. We had a lot of help from some of the Pathfinders already there. The next day the sun began to rise and lit up the sky like a burning candle lights up a dark room. I woke up feeling like this was going to be a good day. We did many fun activities and honors and ended the Saturday with s’mores and hot chocolate.
Sunday morning was another beautiful day, but I did not know the tragedy that would occur later on that day. I had just finished my archery honor and I was very ecstatic that I would’ve completed about five honors that weekend, but my sisters came up to me and told me that I would not be able to finish the honor.
I said goodbye to all of my friends, packed all my camping equipment in the car and started on my way home with my sisters and Elizabeth, my Pastor’s wife and their kids. After driving a few hours we grew hungry, so we exited the freeway and stopped at a gas station to use the restroom
and get some snacks. Elizabeth kept driving and did not realize that we had exited, but my sisters and I had a good idea of where we were so we thought we were going to be fine. As we entered back onto the freeway we tried to increase our speed to match the cars racing past us. A while after a red car sped up beside us and tried to get in front of us. My sister Anna-Lee tried banging on the window to get the person’s attention, but the driver kept coming into our lane. My sister that was driving, Lee-Ann decided to swerve onto the shoulder but lost control of the car which flipped five times before stopping. Everything around me seemed very chaotic as my brain tried to register what had just happened. All I could see was food, blood, and our camping equipment scattered on the ground. I could not see very well, my vision was blurry. I saw my sister Lee-Ann on the ground crying with strange people standing around her. As I tried to look in front of me, I could not see anything but the roof of the car caved in like a boulder had hit it. When I tried to move, it was as though I was stuck to the car seat. The firefighters were able to get me out of the car and onto a stretcher where I was brought inside the ambulance. I screamed out crying not because I was feeling physical pain but because of the pain I felt in finding out that my sister had just passed away. I could not stop thinking about my sister and also feeling the pain that would be long lasting. The medics put me under anesthesia so I wouldn’t feel any physical pain. A few moments later I woke up in a hospital bed with Lee-Ann by my side. The doctor came and said that they had done some x-rays and they found that I had a punctured lung some broken ribs and my right clavicle was fractured. As I laid in bed I started blaming God for everything that had happened and I even started blaming myself even though there was nothing I could’ve done to save her. After going to church and getting letters from my classmates I had realized that God could have let all three of us lose our lives that day, but He spared two out of the three of us to be able to depend on Him for anything that we need and also depend on each other when we are needed the most. God gave us a testimony to share with as many people as we can.
“Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and burst their bonds apart.”- Psalms 107:13, 14
David Notice