Hellos

Of course, with goodbyes come hellos as well.  We welcomed President and Sister Hathaway to the Arkansas Bentonville Mission with our Meet and Greet zone meeting in Springdale on Friday morning.

The Hathaways came with all six of their children, one daughter-in-law and one soon-to be fiancée of their second son.  Their two oldest sons will head back to Idaho and school and work; their oldest daughter leaves for her mission to England in July; and their younger three children will be with them as they serve as mission leaders.

Ft. Smith Zone with the Hathaway family

They wanted to make sure everyone
got a picture with them as well.

The Hathaways had a disastrous journey and a sweet miracle on their journey to Arkansas.  Wednesday morning, they were driving caravan style--with two cars along the freeway outside of Omaha, Nebraska.  They were in a construction zone  which put a four-lane freeway down to one lane in each direction with cones separating the lanes of traffic like you often see in summer construction time. In one of those split second moments, two tires flew off a passing semi truck passing in the oncoming lane.  The first tire hit their car that Sister Hathaway was driving on the front right tire area causing the hood to fling back and the air bags to deploy. The air bags smashed the cell phone President Hathaway was holding into his mouth and face causing bleeding immediately.  As Sister Hathaway attempted to stop the car, but being unable to see outside because of the hood, they all waited for impacts from other cars in the lane beside them.

Meanwhile the second tire bounced down the road right into the car following behind them driven by their son.  It also hit near the front of the car, allowing the engine block to absorb most of the impact although again the air bags deployed.

Both cars were totaled by the impact of the tires.  However, when the cars came to a stop and they got out--other than President Hathaway needing some stitches in his lip and one of the daughters being checked for a concussion at the local hospital everyone was fine.  No other cars were involved in the incident.  And when they looked at their car, it had remained completely in their own lane of traffic even though the air bags and hood flinging up made control impossible.

The human thought is:  Why did this happen? We have given up everything to move our family to Arkansas to serve the Lord.  But immediately, President Hathaway and their family realized the great blessing of protection they had received during the entire incident.  President Hathaway said, "Now we have truly left everything, even our cars, to come and serve the Lord."  As a mission, we had heard about the accident and had prayed for their family and their safety.  And then to see them two days later and to hear their accounts and testimonies--how much it opened all of the missionaries to love them and see their great faith and trust in the Lord.

They had each of their children introduce each other including the soon-to-be fiancée of their second son (She was a brave one!) They did a great job and it was a fun way to learn about their family and see the personalities of each one of them.

President Hathaway then opened it up for questions as a way for the missionaries to learn a bit more about him.  He is a strong teacher leader and the missionaries warmed up to all of them very quickly.

In the process, we learned that their missionary plague scripture has the same verse of scripture as ours does:  Doctrine and Covenants 123:17.  It is a great one!

Welcome to Arkansas! We are lucky to be able to serve with the Hathaways for the next few months.

It reminds me of the hymn:  "Each life that touches us for good Reflects this own great mercy, Lord..."  How blessed are we to serve with all of these amazing leaders and missionaries.

We also grabbed some pictures of the office staff--all who will be leaving in the next few months as well.

The Stephensons (housing), Hathaways, Sister Lowery (nurse), Rodebacks (cars)

Jena with Sister Lowery

Sister Lowery leaves in about 9 days although she will keep the phone until the 19th when the next mission nurse arrives. The Rodebacks leave in August and the Stephensons the first of October.  Change is a part of our service.  (I know--I have mentioned it almost as much as the hay bales.) :)