Ben and I had the opportunity to attend Youth Conference this year with the youth of our Stake and had an incredible experience (another post for another time). A few short hours after Youth Conference ended on July 30th, seven kids from our Stake were in a tragic car accident that killed 15 year old Gabe Hanson and sent the other kids to the hospital (two of them were Lifeflighted).
ksl.com - 1 dead, 2 in extremely critical condition in Centerville rollover
Among the seven, was one of "our kids", Lars. Ben and I became pretty close to Lars in those 3 days and were heartbroken to hear of his injuries. Today Ben and I attended Gabe's funeral which was so sweet and there was so much love in the chapel. Everyone was sportin' their PINK VANS in loving memory of Gabe. I met Lars' parents after the funeral and they let us know that Lars is out of the ICU and would love to see us!! Oh my gosh!! I was so thrilled to hear that he could finally have visitors!
www.larsfishoutofwater.blogspot.com
In the past, I have been pretty low key about mentioning private things on my blog. I consider my testimony to be very private to me. But today, I want the whole world to know how grateful I am for the Gospel; that families can be together forever and that there is healing through the Savior. I love my ward/stake family and the tragic loss of of Gabe has made us all closer.
Last night when Ben and I were going to bed, I told him that I didn't want to attend the funeral today. I didn't want to cry and be sad about it anymore. But I'm so glad that we did because it has brought so much closure and I have felt better than I have since we returned from YC. I have learned so many things from this tragedy. One of those lessons has been to not wait until tomorrow to tell that somebody how much you love them. Gabe bore his testimony before we "broke camp" on Saturday and he expressed his love for his big brother Cooper. I feel lucky to have been amongst the crowd that got to hear Gabe's final testimony in this life.
Please send your prayers to Lars!!
GABRIEL RANDOLPH HANSON Obituary: View GABRIEL HANSON's Obituary by Deseret News
xoxo
