This past week was, in fact, insane. I don't think I had this much stress on my mission so far. But things always work out, as they did this past week.
It was a beautiful morning on Thursday, January 28, 2016. The sky was blue and clear, cars were frosty, and I was freaking out. "Why?" one might ask? My driving test. I figured I had driven roughly 7,000 miles in England already and I've had driving lessons, but only one lesson to actually tell me what was going to happen on the test. On the test they take you through different driving situations to test a lot of what you would find in an American test, but with even more detail.
Once I was out of the testing centre we drove into a residential neighbourhood to do my reversing manoeuvre. The possibilities the examiner can pick are a parallel park, reverse bay park, reverse around a corner, and a turn in the road (3 point turn). I got the latter, a three point turn. Miraculously, all was executed fine and I made it through without any faults. We then did some independent driving, where the examiner tells me to drive towards a certain town or whatever, and I have to go in that direction just by road signs.
Made it through this as well. We did some driving on a back-country road (one of those roads that's a 60 mph speed limit but barely big enough for one car) and that was fine. Got on and off a dual-carriageway (fancy term for a four lane freeway (two lanes in each direction)), and back to the testing centre, and my time was up.
Total time: 45 minutes. Total minor faults: 3/15 possible. Pass:
Success! I'm so grateful this is off my plate and I now have my English driving license. I do owe my pass to Divine help, not by my own skill. I did have quite a bit of practice, but not nearly the amount of time it normally takes to pass the test.
This reminded me of a story from the Book of Mormon. To paraphrase, the brother of Jared is commanded to build a ship, much like a submarine. He had two problems though: how does he get air inside, and light to see where he goes? He prays for an answer and gets one for the air (cut two holes in a certain place and you'll get air) and his answer for the light was basically "It doesn't matter, make a plan and do all you can to carry it through and I (the Lord) will help after you make this plan". The brother of Jared got 16 stones and carried them up a mountain and asked the Lord to make them shine light.
Because of his faith, he got to see the finger of the Lord touch these stones to make them shine.
How does this relate to the lesson I learned from my driving test?
It's simple. Whenever we need help with something that is a righteous desire, we need to do all we can first. If we are lazy, why should we deserve help? If we need help with a math test, we study all we can and seek His help. I did all I could in my driving practice while I was in a car area, and I definitely received the help I needed to pass my test, and for this I am grateful.
I also hit another milestone this week: I finally got to ride on a double-decker bus! We got bus passes this week to cover more of our area, and so I finally got to ride on a double-decker bus after eight months in England. It's always the little things that brighten one's day.
We did struggle this week with finding new people to teach, and after talking with the rest of the district this was a common theme. I was reminded that so much of the success we see cannot be measured by a number. There does need to be a balance because setting appropriate goals and then reporting on how we did will improve our rate of success, but so much of what goes on happens behind the scenes. For example, there is no way to measure the success we have in brightening someone's day. Helping people should be about helping people.
Like I seem to say every week, the time is flying by so fast! I'm now
1/3 done with my mission. Friends that were with me at BYU last year that left after fall semester have now been out a year. Crazy!
Cheerio!
Elder Ammermon
P.S. We rode a double decker bus to Milton Keynes to go and see if a Costco here in England is the same as back home. Shown are three pictures and yes, they are the same.
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