Wednesday, July 3, 2013

The story of Sydney

Alex and Sydney met at SVU in a mission preparation class.  Bishop Moss was their teacher and told me that they always sat on the front row. 
Their first formal date was for the honor ball at SVU.  Sydney and Alex spent all semester dating, spending time together, and most of all focusing on preparing for their missions.  Alex was able to be with Sydney when she opened her mission call.  She was to report to the Brazil MTC on August 21st.  The two read their scriptures together every night, sometimes in English and sometimes in Spanish (to help Alex prepare for his Spanish Speaking mission).
The last day of school, Sydney thought she was saying good bye to Alex for two years.  It was also her birthday.  Alex had other plans.  He had worked with me and we had bought two round trip tickets to surprise her with a trip for herself and her mom to come visit us in Phoenix.
Just a few weeks later, Sydney and Celeste came to Phoenix and spent an amazing long weekend with us.  We got to know this sweet girl first hand and her strong, faithful mom.  We got to see Alex and Sydney together and how sweet and in love they were. 
Bret and I got to see Sydney one more time after Alex had already left for the MTC.  She came and spent the night with us as part of her road trip.  We got to meet Nichole, Preston and Nichole's baby.  Sydney and I texted during her road trip and she was having a great time seeing some parts of the country that she had never seen. 
On Tuesday, I got a phone call from Celeste.  She knew that Bret was putting Jasmine on a plane for Chile for her mission.  She told me the news that Sydney had been in a car accident and had died.  She asked me to not tell Bret until after he had put Jasmine on the plane.  What a sweet, unselfish request from a grieving mother.  It had been planned for Bret to have dinner with Sydney and her parents Tuesday night on his drive from Louisiana to Phoenix with Jasmine's car.  Jasmine had written a sweet letter and had gotten her a bracelet that Bret was to give her.  I had photo collages, a t-shirt, and camera for her mission that he was to give her. 
After Bret dropped off Jasmine, I told him of the news.  We are both heartbroken with grief.
Yesterday, I had also talked with the Provo MTC mission president, President Brady.  President Brady was able to spend time telling Alex of the news and helping console him.  Alex requested to speak with us.
Today, Wednesday, we were able to talk with our sweet boy.  He is definitely a missionary!  He was giving us scriptures and asking us to pass those scriptures on to the Hathaway family.  He has a firm testimony of this Gospel.  He is happy to continue to prepare in the Provo MTC for the next two weeks before heading to Boston.  He is sad and grieving, but he feels blessed to have had Sydney in his life. 
He has been comforted by those in the MTC and by feeling the love and support of all of his friends and family.  

Thank you for continuing to have him in your prayers as he deals with the loss of Sydney. 

3 comments:

  1. A truly touching story. So sad but at the same time so powerful in regards to how Alex is handling it.

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