We did not come this far only to come this far

This past general conference Elder Holland spoke of how we must “press forward with love in our hearts, walking in the “brightness of hope” that lights the path of holy anticipation we have been on now for 200 years.

While attending a regional conference in Johannesburg South Africa, the words of a recently returned Sister Missionary, Judith Mahlangu, impacted him. She said a quote she had heard and recorded in her journal helped her through trials on her mission: “I did not come this far only to come this far.”

Elder and Sister Holland with Judith Mahlangu

I recognized that phrase from a book I was reading by another South African member of the church, Joey Evans. The book was titled, "From Para to Dakar".

In January 2017 Joey Evans was able to ride his KTM 450 Rally Replica motorcycle up to the start podium of the Dakar Rally. The Dakar Rally is considered the most grueling and dangerous off-road race in motorsports. It is traditionally over 5000 miles through the Sahara Desert and other North African terrain. The race lasts 13 days with 12 race stages and a rest day in the middle.  Terrorist activity forced the race to relocate to South America a few years before Joey entered. The 2017 start was in Asuncion, Paraguay and would pass through snow in the high Andes mountains and then into the large dunes of the Argentinian desert.

It took amazing determination, tenacity, and faith for Joey to get to the rally start. Joey, a returned missionary, husband, and father of 4 daughters had a passion for off-road motorcycle racing. The family spent many Saturdays at race locations. On Oct 13, 2007, almost 10 years before his Dakar start, Joey, suffered a severe crash at the Heidelberg Hare Scramble.  

Joey Evans and Family

Joey had broken his T8 and T9 vertebrae and could not feel anything below his chest. At the hospital, Joey was told he would never walk again. His life seemed to come crashing down.

Prayers were said, blessings given, a surgery performed to fuse the broken vertebrae and relieve pressure on the spinal cord. Miraculously, little by little some muscle control began to return. After 2 years of intense physical therapy and training, Joey was able to walk again without aid. He didn’t have bladder or bowel control but he could walk. Completing the Dakar Rally became a motivating dream. Within 6 more months, he was able to ride a motorcycle again. He couldn’t run, or jump, or hike in the mountains, but he could walk with what he calls his ‘dodgy legs’ and he could ride. His wife went along with his Dakar dream because it was such an obvious motivating factor in his recovery

At age 42, nearly 10 years after his accident, Joey was riding up the start podium at the 2017 Dakar Rally with the names of 320 supporters printed on the graphics of his motorcycle. He still could not run or jump. His body did not sweat beneath his chest. The skin on his legs did not feel pain. He still used a catheter and took medications to help him digest food, but through much training, fund raising, and success in other races, he had earned the right to start at the 2017 Dakar Rally. Joey had no illusions of winning, his only goal was to finish.

Joey had many challenges during the rally but his biggest challenge came on Stage 11, the second to last stage of the race. One of the top racing cars came behind Joey going extremely fast while Joey was struggling in a silt bed. The sentinel warning sounded late and the car did not slow down. Joey could not get the bike out of the rutted silt bed in time and had to roll out of the way while the car ran over his $30,000 rally bike missing him by millimeters. The driver stopped briefly, saw that Joey was alive, and then sped on. Joey was devastated. He was hundreds of kilometers from the end of the stage and his motorcycle lie destroyed in the silt bed. The exhaust pipe was flattened and pushed into the rear tire. Two of three fuel tanks on the bike were spilling their contents into the dust. His right foot peg had broken off, his handlebars were bent, and his navigation tower was crushed and no longer working.

Joey Evan's rally bike after being run over

He dragged the bike out of the road and called his wife, Meredith, on the satellite phone to tell her he was OK but his bike was destroyed and he would not be able to finish. They cried together for a moment, realizing the dream they had worked for so hard and long would not be fulfilled, but while they were talking, Joey saw the sticker he had placed on his navigation tower…”you did not come this far to only come this far”. Joey told his wife he was going to try to get the bike running. If the sweeper truck had to pick him up, they would find him moving, not sitting in the dirt crying. Meredith said, “You’ve got this”, as she hung up. They both began praying.

He removed his exhaust pipe and was able to get the bike running. He put his right knee on the seat and the left foot on the remaining foot peg and started picking his way through the bushes on the side of the track to avoid other speeding cars and truck coming through. He knew he did not have enough fuel to make it to the next fuel stop, but as long as he had some way to move forward he was going to do it.

He had gone about 10 km when there miraculously appeared in front of him another rally motorcycle just like his. Nearby locals gestured to him that the owner (a Columbian) had broken his arms and had been evacuated by helicopter leaving the bike to be picked up by the sweeper truck. He went right to work borrowing the needed replacement parts for his motorcycle. He siphoned out the fuel he needed and was back in the rally. He arrived at the bivouac that night at 2:11 AM. A media team covering the top racers heard the story and stayed up to film his arrival. The start time for the final stage was 4 AM. His mechanic was able to get the navigation tower working again but had no time for any other repairs. Joey was able to finish the final stage and claim his finisher’s medal. 143 bike riders started that year, 97 finished. Joey finished 94th. A hero’s welcome from hundreds of shouting supporters greeted him at the Johannesburg airport when he arrived home. 

Joey on the Finsher's Podium for the 2017 Dakar Rally

The Joey Evans story is a story of determination and hope when there appears to be no hope. It is a story of enduring to the end. Our life is a time of testing and trial. The scriptures have sometimes likened life to a race. In Ecclesiastes 9:11 we read “the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong”. In other words, the race of life is like an endurance race. It is like the rally race in that sense. 

Difficult things can happen to us through no fault of our own or because of others improperly exercising agency or they may happen because of our own mistakes. In any case, the atonement of Christ is there to rescue if we do our part.

Mosiah wrote of Christ: 

And lo, he shall suffer temptations, and pain of body, hunger, thirst, and fatigue, even more than man can suffer, except it be unto death; for behold, blood cometh from every pore, so great shall be his anguish for the wickedness and the abominations of his people (Mosiah 3:7). 

We may not be able to see how to go the next 100 km in the rally race of life, but if we can see how to go the next 10 km and we press forward prayerfully and faithfully, the Lord will bless us and reward us.

“We did not come this far only to come this far.” There is more to do. As the great prophet Nephi taught (2 Ne 31)...

19 And now, my beloved brethren, after ye have gotten into this strait and narrow path, I would ask if all is done? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; for ye have not come thus far save it were by the word of Christ with unshaken faith in him, relying wholly upon the merits of him who is mighty to save.
20 Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life.