A Vivid Personal Moment in Sasha's Life 11-6-12

READ FROM THE BOTTOM UP!

I have like 4 months in the mish... so weird. I can´t believe that happened yesterday and on my mish! haha, it´s not all the time you get to hear about crazy mish stories and now I´m part of one! woo! haha. I can´t believe Christmas is coming. at Christmas I´ll only have one year left. at my birthday I´ll be half way thru. wow.

We just met as a zone. this is our last week together so it was our last meeting. I feel such a connection with them. I´ll never ever be able to forget yesterday.

I´m here. wow, seriously mom, it´s like a dream... I wrote a ton in my journal, I might send it to you through the mail. it was so real though. the movies have got it right. just imagine a terrible accident in the movies and that it´s real and in the moment. but really, there´s no need to worry, it´s a witness of the power that we have as mish. the protection that we have. it was amazing. while we were tumbling I remember thinking to God, why, god, we´re missionaries, this can´t happen to us, you can´t let someone die. I really feel like the angels of our family were there with us. we were all very calm. and right now, the people in my zone are the best. there aren´t any other people I would have wanted to experience this with. they are all my friends and I have so much love and confidence in them. I can´t imagine going through this with my family, with you guys, it would be so terrible.

so we were on our way to Villas de Anton. it´s suposed to be gorgeous! our zone rented a chiva, or van like small bus for us 12 mish. the driver, the poor thing, was just some driver. and it was dry. the back right tire blew. we think that he filled it up too much and then as it heated up on the freeway, it blew. he swerved and the chiva did a 360 and then rolled on the road and then down the hill.

yeah, and the chivas (bus) are way easy to roll too. it was crazy.. pretty awesome story though... haha now I have something to compare to your accidents. haha we can laugh and enjoy the story now that it´s over, but never hope it happens again... to anyone.

we had to climb up and out of a broken window. yeah, a couple elders and the driver all broke windows out to get out. and Elder mahina helped us all down off from of the top of the bus which was actually the side of the bus. we´re still shaking pieces of glass out of our hair... haha. we sent off three mish to the hospital in a chiva that pulled off the road when they saw the accident before the aid cars came. 2 aid cars took the rest of us to the hospital. it was really crazy too because not one of us is from Panama, so we had to show documents to like 3 different people. the aid car was just like all the others I´ve been in, except they spoke Spanish  haha. the hospital wasn´t like a clean hospital... like the white washed perfect ones we have in the states. the dr just asked what hurt and sent us to x rays. weirdest dr check up I´ve ever had. and they prescribed medicine to everyone. it was weird to me. we were all asked our age and name and country by like 2 dif police men. one police man started harassing me and trying to get me to talk about Christ and what I thought was humility and stupid stuff in Spanish. and then was saying I couldsn´t understand Spanish, but sorry, buddy, I understood everything.  polocia. shoot! do your job and leave me alone. anyway... yikes... I was the last one out of the bus. I wasn´t in a hurry to get out. elder luciano and I also gathered up everything we could find in the bus too. like backpacks and food and stuff. I was was chill. I held the other sisters as they started to cry sitting on the side of the street. I´m grateful that I´m so calm in these kinds of things. I´m able to be a comfort to others. you know I´m not really a touch kind of person, but the first thing I did was grab my companion and hold her cause we were upset and then the other sister too. and then there´s me... the only hermana that´s like... chill. weird. but a blessing.

Can you believe that that happened yesterday... sometimes it just seems like it didn´t really happen, but then I lean back and feel the big bruise on my lower back. I think I hit a chair. who knows. after our lives are over and we get to watch the video playback of our lives, we´ll finally know what really happened. haha.

It was really terrible. So many things could have been the death of people. but 12 mish, 8 of which hold the priesthood, there´s no way. no seat belts, could have rolled down forever into a river. if there wasn´t a tree... if the seat belt of the mish in the front seat hadn´t broken, the tree would have crushed him. there were angels in that chiva. really. it was so ugly. the girls all cried. I´ve always wanted to know how I would act in such a situation and now I know. I was way calm. the only sister that didn´t cry. but that´s me, right.. I´ll cry at a stubbed toe and a bad day, but with real pain, it doesn´t phase me... ha. I don´t know how to explain this accident. m y comp and I feel like no one really understands the horror of it. I remember so many thing. my first though as the van spun in a circle on the road and flipped once on the road and twice more down the hill, was, o my gosh... we don´t have seat belts. I´ll tell you what, if any of you guys prayed for me or in general, missionaries yesterday, I´m here to tell you that we used all the pray saving juice from your prayers yesterday, so jeep them coming. We´re all really sore. I think we were so happy afterwards cause we were making up terrible stories of what could have happened like the gas tank blows and there's an explosion like in the movies or Elder Mahina how is a big Tongan mish picks up the van with all his adrenaline from the accident and throws it back onto the street and then a bus comes and runs into it. okay, maybe all of our stories we´re realistic... and maybe you shouldn´t post them on my blog, they might scare people... haha I had two x rays at the hospital. we all had to get checked out. today we´re super sore. I have some good bruises on my hand, back and legs and arms and a nice glass burn like clean rug burn on my leg. so now I have cool x ray pics of my right hand and my spine and pelvis. haha.

On Tue, Nov 6, 2012 at 1:21 AM, Tina Schumacher <schumacherfamily@msn.com> wrote:

I knew I shouldn't let you out of the house..... So me and your Dad were both trying to catch you online all day, over and over, like somehow we knew something was up. So weird. Now we know why you didn't show up online. What can I say, but I'm so glad Heavenly Father thinks you should still be here, in one piece even. Details please!! Sasha style. ~~Love you, Mom and Dad

From: Pres and Sis Ward,

Your missionary was in an accident today. All the missionaries are fine. It is a true miracle. Twelve

missionaries from the Chichemito Zone were on a p-day trip to Anton in a chiva (small bus). The back wheel blew flat and the chiva rolled 3 times. The rolling was stopped by a tree before it could go about 30 more feet into a river. After the rolling stopped, Elder Mahina broke out a window, climbed out and helped to lift out the other missionaries. All the missionaries survived. In fact no one needed stitches, no bones were broken. Most of them had many bruises but that was all. It was a true miracle.
Attached is a picture of the rolled over chiva and the zone together after the hospital checkup.

Gracias,

Hermana Ward