Two Missionaries Killed in North Dakota (Car Crash)

[smac97]

https://ksltv.com/652268/two-missionaries-for-the-church-of-jesus-christ-of-latter-day-saints-killed-in-north-dakota-crash/

Quote

Two missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were killed in a car crash in North Dakota on Tuesday. The two missionaries were serving in the North Dakota, Bismarck Mission.

The Church said “Elder Jacob Aaron Kesler, 20, from Ely, Nevada, and Elder Robert “Tommy” Gardner, 20, from Riverton, Utah, both passed away at the scene of the collision. The missionaries were traveling on a highway outside of Beulah, North Dakota, when their vehicle struck a semi-truck, which had stopped in the road due to an accident.”

Elder Kesler had been serving since July 2022 and Elder Gardner since November 2022.

“We send our love and condolences to Elder Kesler’s and Elder Gardner’s families and friends and their fellow missionaries in the North Dakota Bismarck Mission,” a statement from the Church stated. “We pray they will each be comforted and feel peace during this tragic time as they reflect on the faithful service these young men have given to the Savior, by sharing His gospel.”

Very sad.  

Per this article:

Quote

The driver, Elder Robert "Tommy" Gardner, from Riverton, and passenger Elder Jacob Aaron Kesler, from Ely, Nevada, were both pronounced dead at the scene of the collision.

Kesler had been serving in the North Dakota Bismarck Mission since July 2022, and Gardner since November 2022.

The crash happened at little after 2:30 p.m., 11 miles south of Beulah, North Dakota, according to the North Dakota Highway Patrol.

Traffic came to a stop after a vehicle fire blocked the northbound lanes of North Dakota Highway 49, officers report, including the truck involved in the accident. The driver "did not see the stopped semi in the roadway," according to a release, and their SUV struck the trailer.

The driver of the semitruck was not injured. Both victims were wearing seat belts.

...

The North Dakota Highway Patrol says the crash remains under investigation.

My condolences to the families of these men.

I am grateful nobody else was injured.

Thanks,

-Smac

[bluebell]

1 hour ago, smac97 said:

https://ksltv.com/652268/two-missionaries-for-the-church-of-jesus-christ-of-latter-day-saints-killed-in-north-dakota-crash/

Very sad.  

Per this article:

My condolences to the families of these men.

I am grateful nobody else was injured.

Thanks,

-Smac

My heart breaks for these families.

It sounds like the elder from Riverton would have been going home next month.  I can’t imagine the pain of actually being in the stage of actively preparing for your child to return and then learning they were never coming back.

Of course the elder’s family from Nevada is equally devastated I’m sure.

These are the times when the newer policy of weekly phone calls can be such an extra blessing.

[JAHS]

Here's another missionary that was killed a few days ago. He had recently returned from a mission in Columbus, Ohio and requested to go on a second mission and was called to serve in Austin Texas.
I wonder how common it is allowed to serve a second mission soon after returning from one.

'MISSION IN HEAVEN': Family of local LDS missionary killed in crash reflects on his life

ARIMO — His work isn’t finished.
That’s how the family of 20-year-old Cort Ryan Newlin, of Arimo, feels about his
endeavor to spread the word of the gospel in spite of his unexpected death in a singlevehicle car accident near Arimo on Sunday.
“A mission in heaven is what we are calling it,” Newlin’s mother Missy Losee recently told
the Idaho State Journal. “We believe he is up in heaven doing missionary work on the
other side of the veil.”
Newlin died as the result of injuries he sustained in a single-vehicle accident at 9:44 p.m.
Sunday on West Arimo Road at Garden Creek Gap west of Arimo, Idaho State Police said.
Newlin died in the crash when the eastbound 2002 Chevrolet Impala he was a passenger
in left the road, flipped and ended up in an adjacent creek.
A 21-year-old man from Chubbuck was driving the vehicle, state police said. He was
transported via private vehicle to a local hospital for treatment of injuries he suffered in
the crash, authorities said. No updates on his condition have been released.
At the time of his death, Newlin was just days away from departing for Austin, Texas, to
embark on what would be his second mission with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints,

having returned to Idaho in February after serving for 18 months in
Columbus, Ohio, Losee said.
Serving as a missionary was something that Newlin always knew he wanted to do, she
added.
“Even as a very young boy Cort always knew that he wanted to go on a mission,” Losee
said. “He was one of those kinds of kids who never had to make the decision because it
had already been made for him. He just knew.”
Newlin was one of eight children. He was almost right in the middle, with three older
siblings and four that were younger. His three older siblings would consistently describe
him as the golden child. Not just because he was “the glue, the peacemaker and always
offering a ray of sunshine” to those around him, his mother says, but also because he
had a full head of blond hair and blue eyes — which wasn’t common among his elder
brothers and sisters.
“His three older siblings that share the same father are all dark in complexion while Cort
was light,” she said. “They had dark hair and dark eyes and he had blond hair and blue
eyes. Sometimes we all wondered where he came from.”
Other aspects that made Newlin golden was his ability to listen, Losee said, adding that
he was the type of child who never wanted to get in trouble and was somebody who
wanted to fix the problems that other people faced.

Upon his return to Idaho from Ohio, Newlin thought his days of service were over.
Initially, he turned down an ask from his stake president to go back on a mission before
he stumbled upon the story of Bill Carpenter’s conversion from Catholicism to the LDS
faith.
“Basically, it inspired Cort,” she said. “After he found this talk he had a strong feeling that
he was supposed to go back out — that his work wasn’t done and that he didn’t want to
leave one person behind, so he decided that he would go back out.”
Losee said Newlin needed to petition the First Presidency through a letter to ask for
permission to go back out. The earliest that he could submit the letter was May 3. He
found out on May 24, just two days before his untimely death, that he would be leaving
for Austin to serve again on May 28, two days after his death.
“All of us think that he must have been an angel living among us all these years,” Losee
said. “We believe that he just took an earlier flight for the same mission

Edited June 7, 2024 by JAHS

[MustardSeed]

How utterly devastating.  My heart goes out to families.  This makes me so sad -

[MorningStar]

On 6/5/2024 at 2:07 PM, bluebell said:

My heart breaks for these families.

It sounds like the elder from Riverton would have been going home next month.  I can’t imagine the pain of actually being in the stage of actively preparing for your child to return and then learning they were never coming back.

Of course the elder’s family from Nevada is equally devastated I’m sure.

These are the times when the newer policy of weekly phone calls can be such an extra blessing.

I can't imagine!  

[Rain]

On 6/5/2024 at 4:41 PM, JAHS said:

Here's another missionary that was killed a few days ago. He had recently returned from a mission in Columbus, Ohio and requested to go on a second mission and was called to serve in Austin Texas.
I wonder how common it is allowed to serve a second mission soon after returning from one.

'MISSION IN HEAVEN': Family of local LDS missionary killed in crash reflects on his life

I would really like to know the story there.  So many questions.

Quote

Upon his return to Idaho from Ohio, Newlin thought his days of service were over. Initially, he turned down an ask from his stake president to go back on a mission before he stumbled upon the story of Bill Carpenter’s conversion from Catholicism to the LDS faith....

...

Losee said Newlin needed to petition the First Presidency through a letter to ask for permission to go back out. The earliest that he could submit the letter was May 3.

You can go on a second mission as a young man? The stake president asked him to go on the second mission - why? This happens enough there was a date he had to wait for?  

 

[bluebell]

41 minutes ago, Rain said:

I would really like to know the story there.  So many questions.

You can go on a second mission as a young man? The stake president asked him to go on the second mission - why? This happens enough there was a date he had to wait for?  

 

Yes, so many questions!

[Duncan]

I wonder if the elder serving for 18 months had something to do with it, perhaps they sent him out again to finish off the remaining 6 months?

[blackstrap]

Is it too soon to speculate as to how this accident may have happened ?

[bluebell]

3 minutes ago, blackstrap said:

Is it too soon to speculate as to how this accident may have happened ?

The article said that a semi was stopped in the lane because of an accident (the truck was on fire I think?) and they hit the back of it.  So I'm guessing somehow they didn't see it stopped in the lane until it was too late.

[blackstrap]

2 hours ago, bluebell said:

somehow they didn't see it stopped

And that is the problem. Authorities said there was a clear view of the semi for a long distance and that the missionaries SUV hit the truck at highway speed with little sign of braking. This suggests that both elders were very distracted or asleep . It could be that the passenger was napping and the driver was zoned out or under " highway hypnosis " I have experienced this on long trips where I get lost in thought and several miles go by without noticing and I am driving on autopilot/muscle memory. 

[blackstrap]

IIRC the semi was the last in a long line of vehicles stopped because of an accident further up the road.