"I've been in a bad car accident mom and we are on our way to the emergency room."
Here's Sean's account:
How am I not dead?
Dear Family,
So this week was one of the most insane weeks of my mission.... I don't think anyone could have predicted anything that happened!
This week was pretty normal up until Christmas. On Christmas Eve we had a great time at the Adams' house. They fed us dinner and then we hung out with them for a little while. They were even kind enough to make what we always eat for Christmas Eve. Crab Legs! I was super excited. Brother Adams makes the best shrimp and grits I've ever had too.
Also on Tuesday we had DDM and a fun district Christmas party afterwards. It was really fun and I made my chili for it.
So on Christmas we were supposed to be eating breakfast at Bishop's house at 10 AM. Elder Neves and I were both excited to go through the day because we had a lot of families that wanted to have us over for Christmas. It was really foggy outside that day which has been the usual. The weather has been so up and down that there is always fog in the morning. We were on a small street called Roundtop Road and we were at the stop sign that crosses Highway 34. I looked both ways and when I looked towards my right, Elder Neves was looking that way too. I started to drive across the road and as soon as I pulled out onto the highway, Elder Neves went "WOAH WOAH" and the moment I looked to my left a car slammed right into my door. I literally was only able to see a frame of time before she hit us. It was a white Nissan Maxima and she didn't have her lights on and so I had overlooked her when I looked to cross. The speed limit is 55 and she was probably going a lot faster than that, because most everyone drives way over the speed limit on that highway. She slammed us, my window shattered, my window airbags went off and we went rolling across the entire highway. There was a bank on the side of the highway that had about a one foot dip that we jumped. We barely missed a couple of trees and ran over a metal sign, and then rolled more into a person's yard. I only remember a couple frames of the wreck. Right before we got hit, right when we were hit, when we rolled over the sign, and when we had stopped.
Both of us sat there for a second and just groaned really loud hahahaha. My door was completely smashed inwards. I tried opening it but it wouldn't budge. Elder Neves and I crawled out of his door and then talked to the people who lived there and they asked if we were okay. I went over to the lady that had hit us to make sure she was okay. She just had a cut on her arm from her airbag going off. She was pretty calm for the most part. I called the vehicle coordinator and President Turner and the mission nurse and so we went through that whole ordeal. We did all the paperwork for the wreck and then I got a ticket for not yielding the right of way. Oh well. I'm glad that no one got hurt.
So I've never been slammed so hard in my life before... It hurt. Especially the airbags!!!
We went to the ER with the Blythewood Elders and I had a CT scan and an Xray for my head and my elbow. Turns out that we were both totally fine! I have a minor concussion and my elbow has just been stiff. Elder Neves has some bruising on his legs, but that's it. Elder Snelson gave me a blessing before we went to the ER and that helped a lot too.
I would just like to say that there is absolutely no reason why I wasn't hurt anymore than I was. If you look at the pictures of the wreck you'll understand that I was insanely lucky that I walked out of that wreck. This wreck put a damper on my Christmas but I am so grateful that I was protected somehow in that wreck. In my patriarchal blessing it says that I will be protected in all the things that I do, and I thought that just meant that I'll probably smooth through life without getting into a bad wreck or something like that. But I definitely can tell that was fulfilled in another way in the fact that I came out of that crash.
We recovered so quickly too. Yesterday afternoon I couldn't sit around in the apartment any longer and so I told Elder Neves we were going out to work. WE biked about 4 miles and tracted for about an hour or 2. We were able to teach 2 lessons and get 3 return appointments with people. I've got a minor concussion and both of us are sore all over but I felt like we could try our best to work in our circumstance. I didn't want to be sitting around for much longer, I was going crazy!!! Haha
I am very thankful for the fact that I came out of the wreck okay and that I have recovered quickly. It was a hard day, but I got through it feeling happy and hopeful for the future. Unfortunately, we don't know when we'll be getting a car again, but we will have to work with what we have now.
I'll make sure to send pictures of the wreck!!!!
Love you!
Elder Sean Bills
We are so very grateful that Sean, his companion, and the woman in the other car only had minor injuries. We are also so grateful for the members that have been checking on them and making sure they are ok. We feel very strongly that the Lord protected and watched over them. Knowing how fast the woman was going and from the pictures, it is inexplicable how they, especially Sean, were not more seriously injured or worse.
These kinds of accidents don't always turn out this well, and we will continue to express our gratitude for his safety and protection.
It was so comforting to see his face and hear his voice when we were finally able to Skype with him in the evening. After we had a family prayer together, we asked him to please stay safe for the next 38 days until he comes home!