Game Day--Arkansas Razorback Style---With BYU Cougars Mixed In!!

Yes, we are on a senior mission plus one.  Yes, we are serving and working and hopefully helping those we serve along the covenant path!  Yes, we are preparing lessons and making meals and having conversations and supporting the missionaries.....but this week, we had some amazing and fun times as you have seen in our posts so far.

Saturday afternoon and evening was just one of those "icing on the top of the cake" moments--not deserved, not earned--just an opportunity to have fun with thousands of other BYU fans!

Side note: When we got our call last year, I quickly learned about the BYU vs Arkansas football game to be played in Fayetteville this year because they played the first game at BYU last September (which Arkansas won 52-35).  So I knew the game would be played in our mission but I didn't know if we would be close enough to attend and if it was okay to attend.  Our assignment in Ft. Smith made attending possible and our mission leaders said we could attend if we wanted.  However, Gary wasn't really interesting in attending the game in person (especially since we weren't expected to do much in the game) and also we weren't sure if Jena would enjoy a long football game.  

Early in the summer I checked for prices and the tickets were so expensive so I decided that since I was the only one that really wanted to go, we would stay home and watch it on TV.  Then one day, Gary asked me if I had gotten tickets.  I told him no for all the above reasons.  He said we should go if you really want to.  Later in the same week, he asked me again and said we should go if you really want to---I really want to do a lot of things--and they are more important than a football game--but I realized that I did want to go and I knew Gary was serious--He wanted to take me to the game if it was something I wanted.  He also said in passing, if we are going to go, let's make it a good experience for Jena.  So we got tickets in the main BYU section so she could rise and shout with the crowd. This was the end of August and I have been excited ever since.  I love Gary who knows me so well and loves me enough to go to a BYU game in Fayetteville, Arkansas!

Back to Saturday, I happened to check my phone while we were heading up and saw a story about the Alum gatherings and service projects happening at the away games.  Sure enough--there was one planned for Fayetteville at Wilson Park and they were gathering food for a food pantry in town at one of the local Churches.  So we made a quick stop in West Fork at a grocery store to buy some canned goods and Mac-Cheese and off we went.

The park was filled with blue dressed people of all ages--playing games, talking, eating, etc.  We only stayed about 20 minutes but it was fun and we were happy to add our food to their collection.

Two of the Fayetteville missionaries--some of our favorites-- Elder Kutchinsky and Elder Hubbard. 

Nothing says BYU to me more that this shortened slogan--Learn and Serve.  I have this motto in my bedroom at home--Enter to Learn, Go forth to serve.  It applied to my college life, but also to our home, to the Church, and to the temple--Always enter to learn with the intent to go forth and serve!!!

We saw a few people we knew from Ft. Smith and enjoyed sharing our excitement for all things BYU.

However, you knew we were not in Provo......

The University has a mobile home park which was
filled for game day.  I think it is called Road Hog Park or something
like that.  How fun it that!

We parked in a free lot about a mile from the stadium across from their baseball stadium.  They had free buses to and from the football game.  As we boarded, one of the volunteers thanked us for coming and commented how great it was to see so many BYU fans.  He was an example of the feeling everyone shared with us.  They were welcoming to us and glad we were there.  Although we were in the main BYU section, there were several Arkansas fans around us and they were so friendly to us even after the game.  And we got to hear the actual Razorback call in person-- "Whoo Pig Sooie" to call their Razorbacks!  Check YouTube to experience it a bit yourself.

A tile in the bathroom at the stadium

It was a beautiful evening for a football game.  The temp was perfect and the skies were clear.  The stadium seats about 68000 but they didn't have a full house.  They said it was the 8th largest crowd though so that is great.

Matching band was great as well

So, I realized that I have never gone to a football game with a total confidence that we were not going to win!  But that is truly how I felt as I bought the tickets and thought about the game.  I was going for the historic moment of being at an away game with a SEC opponent--in our mission boundaries.  It would not happen again!  I was going to be a part of that--but not expecting a win.

It was a weird game from start to finish.  Even with 4 minutes left in the game, I still thought Arkansas would pull it out.  They seemed faster and stronger than our team in many ways.  They definitely hurt themselves with penalties.  But BYU played with big hearts and confidence even when they got behind after two unbelievable quick scores in the first minutes of the game.  BYU played and played!  And in the final 36 seconds when I finally let myself believe that we were going to win this game--I teared up.  I was so glad I was there and not at home.  Throughout the game, I kept telling Gary thank you, thank you for letting us come to the game.  I would have regretted it if we had not.  He smiled--as if he knew that BYU was going to win all along. 

Go Blue!!!

The teams on the field at the end of the game and the BYU section going crazy.  Jena loved it!!!

The team then came over in front of our section and we yelled some more for them and their hard work.  Then we sang the BYU fight song--oh the memories of that song sung so many times at games and other events.  I am a BYU Cougar through and through!  Fifty years ago I had just started as a freshman at BYU, Gary and I had just met about 2 weeks ago, and now--here we were cheering once again for the Blue and White of BYU in Arkansas!!!

Like I said, "an icing on the cake" of our lives moment!

And traffic was much better than leaving Provo after a game!!!