Some you of have already read about this . . . But if you haven’t, it’s a great story! And a great one to tell to the boys in scouting, too.
Mormon Missionary Saves a Drowning Man
A Mormon missionary who recently worked with congregations in Santa Cruz, has done more than share the Gospel. He’s saved a life. Elder Etimani Faiese is on a two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, now serving in San Jose. On the morning of Friday, May 18th he and his missionary companion left their apartment dressed in T-shirts and jeans, rather than their customary white shirts and ties. That’s because they were off for a day of community service trimming bushes and cleaning up trash at Lake Cunningham, near the Capitol Expressway and Tully Road in San Jose. Elder Faiese was blowing leaves and debris when the blower ran out of gas, so he headed back to refill it.
Along the way he passed a man who was standing on a rock at the edge of the lake. He heard a sound, turned around and saw that the man was standing in the water. “Are you OK?” he asked. The man didn’t reply, so he hurried on, assuming the man must be fishing. A few minutes later he returned and saw that the man was far out in the lake, waving his arms.
“Are you OK?” he asked again, louder this time. When the man responded with a feeble “Help!” Elder Faiese pulled off his shoes and emptied his pockets. He hesitated because he was about to break a mission rule: no missionaries allowed in the water. But this looked like a matter of life or death. So he waded in and began to swim.
While growing up on Upolu Island in Samoa, Faiese loved to swim and spent most of his time on the beach. As he approached the drowning man, he noticed that the middle-aged Asian’s eyes were filled with terror and his mouth was filled with water. The man suddenly jumped on Faiese’s back and grabbed tightly around his neck with both arms. Faiese was in trouble. He couldn’t swim with the man on his back and he couldn’t seem to communicate with him.
“Then I remembered those long ago Scouting lessons,” said Faiese. “I tugged hard to get him off my back and then pulled him under my left arm, clutching him there while I swam back to shore with my right arm.”
On shore another man had noticed the struggle and helped Faiese get the man up to the walkway.
“I saw that the guy wasn’t breathing and I remembered another Scouting lesson,” Elder Faiese recalled. “I laid him down and turned him on his side. Water came gushing out of his mouth.”
The other man used Elder Faiese’s cell phone to call 911 and soon, help arrived.
“I was wet and freezing. My companion came to check on me about the time the ambulance left,” said Faiese. “I had only been gone for a little while, but so much had happened! We went home, I changed my clothes and soon we were working at another service project.”
That evening the reality that he had saved a life hit home. Because he had decided to serve a mission, he had been in the right place at the right time, with the strength and skills that were needed. The day that had started out so routine had been, in fact, a day like no other.
Mormon Missionary Saves a Drowning Man
A Mormon missionary who recently worked with congregations in Santa Cruz, has done more than share the Gospel. He’s saved a life. Elder Etimani Faiese is on a two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, now serving in San Jose. On the morning of Friday, May 18th he and his missionary companion left their apartment dressed in T-shirts and jeans, rather than their customary white shirts and ties. That’s because they were off for a day of community service trimming bushes and cleaning up trash at Lake Cunningham, near the Capitol Expressway and Tully Road in San Jose. Elder Faiese was blowing leaves and debris when the blower ran out of gas, so he headed back to refill it.
Along the way he passed a man who was standing on a rock at the edge of the lake. He heard a sound, turned around and saw that the man was standing in the water. “Are you OK?” he asked. The man didn’t reply, so he hurried on, assuming the man must be fishing. A few minutes later he returned and saw that the man was far out in the lake, waving his arms.
“Are you OK?” he asked again, louder this time. When the man responded with a feeble “Help!” Elder Faiese pulled off his shoes and emptied his pockets. He hesitated because he was about to break a mission rule: no missionaries allowed in the water. But this looked like a matter of life or death. So he waded in and began to swim.
While growing up on Upolu Island in Samoa, Faiese loved to swim and spent most of his time on the beach. As he approached the drowning man, he noticed that the middle-aged Asian’s eyes were filled with terror and his mouth was filled with water. The man suddenly jumped on Faiese’s back and grabbed tightly around his neck with both arms. Faiese was in trouble. He couldn’t swim with the man on his back and he couldn’t seem to communicate with him.
“Then I remembered those long ago Scouting lessons,” said Faiese. “I tugged hard to get him off my back and then pulled him under my left arm, clutching him there while I swam back to shore with my right arm.”
On shore another man had noticed the struggle and helped Faiese get the man up to the walkway.
“I saw that the guy wasn’t breathing and I remembered another Scouting lesson,” Elder Faiese recalled. “I laid him down and turned him on his side. Water came gushing out of his mouth.”
The other man used Elder Faiese’s cell phone to call 911 and soon, help arrived.
“I was wet and freezing. My companion came to check on me about the time the ambulance left,” said Faiese. “I had only been gone for a little while, but so much had happened! We went home, I changed my clothes and soon we were working at another service project.”
That evening the reality that he had saved a life hit home. Because he had decided to serve a mission, he had been in the right place at the right time, with the strength and skills that were needed. The day that had started out so routine had been, in fact, a day like no other.
No comments:
Post a Comment