Six months into his mission in Australia, Elder Chris Collinsworth was headed home with his companion, Elder David Ferguson, out about 18 months, after their last appointment of the day. The two were on what is called “splits” or "exchanges," working with someone who is not your regular companion.
It was about 8:45 p.m., and they thought nothing of the two men who approached. They even stepped off the sidewalk to let the men pass. As they did so, without provocation, one of the men reared back and landed a punch to Chris’ head that sent him reeling. When he struck a second blow, Chris, no slouch and currently a 6-foot-9 power forward on the BYU basketball team, fought back. The second stranger attacked Elder Ferguson. He used both his fists and a knife but fled in the face of Ferguson’s ferocious defense. Several other men quickly joined the attack on Chris, pulling his shirt over his head, driving him to the ground, and kicking and punching him.
The man with the knife returned to join the fray. Elder Ferguson sprang to pull attackers off Chris, taking his share of blows. One car approached, but the driver simply swerved to the other side of the road and drove on. A second car did the same. A third driver, a Sudanese refugee, pulled up, began to honk his horn, flash his lights and yell. The attackers finally fled.
The attack was well-covered in the media when it happened back in 2008. Chris sat in my office in December and related information about the attack that few have heard. When Chris was set apart and given a blessing, as all missionaries are, his stake president stated there would be a point in his mission when there would be “angels on your right hand and angels on your left hand protecting you.” A big, strong 19-year-old, Chris thought little of the promise at that time.
In Australia, once before with his regular companion, they were surrounded by a group of Middle Eastern emigrants who began pushing and shoving them. When one of them punched Chris, an older Middle Eastern man, observing from a bench, yelled at the young men to leave the missionaries alone, and they managed to escape harm. Afterward Chris asked his companion what he would do if attacked. He said he would run.
However, on this occasion, Chris was with Elder Ferguson who jumped to his defense. After the attackers fled, Chris described “blood everywhere.” Elder Ferguson’s hands were severely cut trying to fend off the knife attack. Chris explained, “It looked like the Blue Man Group only red everywhere.” Chris wrapped his tie around Elder Ferguson’s hand to help stop the bleeding, and when the ambulance arrived, he directed help to Elder Ferguson. He only rode in the ambulance so the two could stay together. However, at the hospital, trying to exit the ambulance, Chris collapsed, unable to walk. Taken inside in a wheelchair, he asked to use the phone to call the mission president. The nurses strangely refused. Then a “code red” went out over the loudspeaker, calling emergency room personnel to respond to a stab wound to the kidneys, a dangerous, life-threatening injury. Doctors and nurses left Elder Ferguson’s room and descended on Chris.
At some point in the melee he was stabbed in the back. In shock, with adrenalin flowing, his muscles tightened. Only after Chris had a shot of morphine did blood begin to flow from the puncture. When checked, miraculously, the knife missed his kidney by less than a centimeter. Chris was also able to make that call to his mission president. One of the paramedics was an LDS Church member who lent his cell phone, and when the mission president arrived blessings were administered. Chris estimated that for about 20 seconds his attackers were kicking him full force in the face and head. He stayed in the hospital overnight for observation, but left the next day with no bruises, no concussion, no lasting pain or injuries.
Meanwhile, a specialist was called to attend to Elder Ferguson’s wounds. Anticipating extensive damage to ligaments and tendons in his hands the doctor scheduled surgery the next day. In surgery he was amazed. There was no real damage to the ligaments or tendons, and Elder Ferguson was sewn up and able to recover on his own, although, as Chris explained, “He’s got way better scars. You can barely see mine.”
When the mission president returned, some days later, with the missionaries to the scene of the attack, he recounted to Chris the spiritual intuitions that accompanied the visit. He testified that during the attack “angels were on your left hand and on your right hand, watching over you.” Chris had never recounted to his mission president the blessing pronounced upon him when he was set apart.
So now you have, “the rest of the story.” Author: Kristine Frederickson : LDS World
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