News Story from EastIdahoNews.com of Church leaders interrupting a meeting to rescue two girls from a submerged vehicle. An inspiring, heroic example of serving others without hesitation. 

Don’t you wish we lived in a world where every news story was positive and uplifting? Where every news story left us feeling inspired rather than sad, fearful and depressed? What a wonderful world that would be. Perhaps that’s why I love it when I come across an article that does just that, uplift and inspire.

This story I’m about to share with you comes from EastIdahoNews.com. A story of LDS church leaders quickly leaving a church meeting at the spur of the moment to go rescue two girls in a submerged vehicle. No pause, no second guessing, no rationalizing or talking themselves out of it – just instantly getting up and going to work, doing whatever was needed to be done. It took all of 5 minutes to do, yet it was an unforgettable, life-saving experience for the two girls involved.

This is the kind of story that reminds us that there is good in the world. There are people out there willing to help without hesitation. It is a story that can inspire each of us to do the same, drop whatever we are doing – with no pause, no second-guessing or rationalizing our way out of it – and go help someone in need.

Perhaps it will cause us to look a little deeper within ourselves, examine our day-to-day lives and ponder the questions, “Am I always willing to stop whatever I am doing to go help someone or just when it’s convenient for me? Am I willing to pray and ask the Lord for guidance on who I can help each day, or am I afraid he’ll answer me and it’ll interrupt my already busy to-do list?”

The world is full of people suffering and in need of rescuing every day, haven’t we all been there at some time in our own lives? Whether it be temporally or spiritually or both? 

Just like this story, heroic acts can be done in as little as 5 minutes. Heroic acts are usually doing something that we believe is nothing more than a simple act of kindness, but to the other person involved it can be unforgettable and life-changing, it could mean the world to them. To someone else, that simple act of kindness may be just what they needed to give them hope and to help them get through another day. Do you have 5 minutes to do an unforgettable, life-changing act of service today? If you do, I guarantee you won’t regret it. You will not only be changing someone else’s life for the better, but changing your own.

LDS Young Men leaders interrupt meeting to save girls in submerged car

By Nate Eaton, EastIdahoNews.com  (November 13, 2007)

REXBURG — A typical LDS leadership meeting took an unusual turn Sunday night that resulted in two leaders saving teenage girls in a submerged car.

Around 15 men from the Rexburg South Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were gathered at the chapel on 8000 South in Archer Sunday, EastIdahoNews.com reported. A stake is a large geographic region that includes multiple congregations for the LDS church.

They were discussing a variety of issues when one of the leaders, who is an on-call volunteer for the Madison Fire Department, interrupted the speaker around 6:10 p.m.

“He said he just got a notification that there was something going on down the road,” said Joe Palmer, a leader at the meeting. “He made it sound like someone was pinned underneath a car and said we could get there faster than the ambulance.”

Everyone in the group jumped from their seats and ran to their vehicles.

“We were flying down there, expecting that a bunch of us would pick up the car off the person,” Palmer said.

Palmer and two other men, Kory Wilcox and Joe Campbell, led the way in Palmer’s pickup truck. They arrived at the scene before everyone else in their group and found the vehicle was actually upside down in a canal full of water.

“We pulled up to the address and saw the commotion,” Palmer said. “I ran up to assess the situation and, before I knew it, Kory and Joe went blowing by me on either side and jumped right in.”

Two teenage girls were trapped inside the car, which was quickly filling up with water. Some neighbors and a teenage boy, who had managed to escape from inside the vehicle, were working to get the girls out.

“People were hollering, ‘There are people in there! There are people in there!’ and we just jumped in without thinking or talking much,” Wilcox said. “It was dark, and the water was cold, but we just did it.”

Wilcox, who is 6-feet 8 inches tall, said the water was high enough to cover his waist. Inside the vehicle, only about 8 inches of air space were left, he added.

“They jumped onto the door and ripped it wide open,” Palmer said. “They ripped the first girl out and they thought that was it. Someone said there was another person in there, and they ripped her out too.”

Wilcox and Campbell helped the girls to safety and climbed out of the water.

They then got back into Palmer’s pickup truck and, with wet pants and water squishing in their shoes, returned to the church building to continue their meeting.

“The entire ordeal took less than five minutes,” Wilcox said. “On the way back to the church, we passed the ambulance and the sheriff deputies.”

Wilcox and Campbell acted so quickly that many of the other young men leaders had no idea what they had done until they saw their wet clothing back at the meetinghouse.

“Kory and Joe pulled them out of the water and the canal before the rest of our group had even showed up,” Palmer said.

Madison County Sheriff Lt. Dave Stoddard says the vehicle ended up in the water after the driver became distracted and veered off the road. She ended up hitting a bridge, which caused the car to roll upside down into the canal.

“A teenage male passenger was able to get out of the vehicle but two female teenagers remained inside,” Stoddard said. “Once they were pulled from the car, they were checked n scene. None of them had any injuries and no property, other than the vehicle, was damaged.”

The leaders finished their meeting at the church and Wilcox returned home to explain to his wife why he had wet shoes and pants.

He said he and Campbell were simply helping and aren’t looking for any special attention.

“Everyone was just jumping in and doing what they could to help,” Wilcox said. “I’m just glad we could play a part of it.”

“Those two were awesome. They were killer,” Palmer said. “They deserved to be honored.”

Learn what President Monson taught Marie Osmond about service by clicking HERE

Yours Truly,

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