A Miracle

Good Afternoon Everyone!!

I had a pretty hectic and nice week. We had two more exchanges, some very sad news in the Mission, transfer news came, and I experienced a miracle!  

It all started on Friday when we received our transfer news. My companion has been transferred to Freetown, and I am training a new Zone Leader named Elder Marava. He is from Zimbabwe, and he is a complete stud. I am so sad to leave Elder Quaisie because we just got along so well, it was like we were brothers! I am also so excited to learn and work with Elder Marava! 

Anyways, my companion left on Sunday night and I was left to be in a trio with the other missionaries in my apartment. We went to sleep and woke up this morning for Preparation Day. At about 8 o'clock we left to do some Baptismal Interviews that we were not able to complete on Sunday, and finished at about 11 o'clock. We then decided to get some lunch at a restaurant not too far away from where we were.

Now before I get any further in the story you need to know that the only form of transport in Bo is what we call "Okadas", or motorcycle taxis. Often you'll find 3 or 4 riders on the okada, but our mission rule is one person to one okada. Well we went to the main road and got onto an okada. We began to ride to the restaurant at a pretty quick pace. As we made our way down the road I saw a woman standing on the sidewalk looking the other way to check to see if she could cross the road. I did not think anything about it because I thought she would look our way as well. When we were about 5 feet away from her, she ran out into the street without looking our way. We ran straight into her. As we hit her, the motorcycle went out of control and we went down. The motorcycle landed on my leg making it so that it dragged me on the road with it, we skidded down the road about 15 or 20 feet, I would say. After we stopped I got up and examined myself, I felt some pain on my right heel, right side of my hip, and had some road rash on my forearm but other than that I was ok. I then saw the horrible scene!! The woman we hit had broken her leg a little bit above the knee and it also looked like she had some broken ribs and some very serious head trauma. She was knocked unconscious and looked like she was dead. The man that was driving the bike was lying face up on the ground and was knocked unconscious as well. He has a very large cut on the forehead and looked like he was dead as well. People grabbed them and took them to the Government Hospital right away. They were unconscious and very very bloody. 

While this was happening, I was a bit light headed but other than that I felt pretty good. I said a quick prayer of gratitude and also for the Lord to be with those two people and then they told me to go to the Hospital as well because of my arm. 

We got to the hospital and they did a check up on me, nothing was broken and nothing was too bad. They cleaned my wound, gave me some medication and even an ejection in my booty for the pain! I then called the senior couple and told them what happened. Now my hip and leg hurt but other than that I am doing very well, I can walk and I feel pretty good. 

As I look back on it, I could have very easily and probably should have gotten more hurt, but I realize that the Lord had protected me. I should have been very badly hurt like those other two but here I am walking with a limp and still smiling! I am really grateful for His hand in my life. He really protected me today.

<Parent Note: We are very grateful that Eli was protected today. He told us that the woman had passed away and he thought that the driver would most likely pass as well due to the extent of his injuries. He said that the scene was pretty terrible. Eli was wearing a helmet, but the driver was not, which we're sure helped keep Eli safe. We were surprised by the way that they took the two injured people to the hospital. They picked them up and put them between the driver of a motorcycle and another passenger, and drove them to the hospital, while the passenger in the back held the injured person on the motorcycle. Such a different world.>

This was right after the accident. This is the small wound I got on my forearm.

This week we also received some pretty sad news in the Mission. One of the Elders, Elder Schwenke passed away due to Cerebral Malaria that was not treated quickly enough. I knew him pretty well, having worked together in the office in Freetown. It was really sad news. All the Zones will be holding a Zone Devotional in tribute to Elder Schwenke this week.

My brother also received his Mission Call!! He will go to the Ghana Kumasi Mission! He is gonna be the best missionary they have ever seen there! I am really excited for him and can't wait to call him and give him some advice!! He is awesome!

I am doing great! I love missionary work, no matter what trials come our way!

Love Ya!!
-Elder Morgan

After proselytizing a hard day, this is what we look like! This was from my short time in Ghana.