Beaumont High Grad on Mission to Paraguay

A recent graduate of Beaumont High is leaving for a two-year mission in Paraguay.

Nyles Andre Matias O'Harra, the son of Temecula Police Chief Andre O'Harra and his wife, Roxana, started his mission this week, according to ARDT Volunteer Ventures.

He will go to Provo, Utah, for missionary training. He is scheduled to leave for Asuncion, Paraguay on Dec. 18, according to an announcement.

Nyles saved up half of the $10,000 cost of the mission despite getting in a debilitating car crash just before his high school graduation, his mother said.

"(It) was really incredible he walked away," she said.

He suffered from a severed thumb, a compound femur fracture and a severely damaged knee, all of which required major surgery. He spent nearly a year dealing with his injuries, Roxana O'Harra said.

He was wheelchair bound for much of his senior year at Beaumont High School, but he vowed he'd be on his feet by graduation time.

"Nyles has such a determination in life, and he was bound and bent he was not going to be pushed on a wheelchair or use a walker for graduation," she recalled.

"Against all odds and all the doctors' telling him it would be impossible after the injuries he suffered, he actually walked during his graduation to a standing ovation of his classmates."

The O'Harra family is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Beaumont Ward. They keep a blog of their son's progress in his mission, which can be seen by clicking here.