Why I Still Don't Like Driving

Yep, time for another mission story! This was actually one of the most spiritual experiences I had, even though it didn't involve someone we taught or anything like that.

It was a Sunday afternoon. Church was over, and we were going back to our apartment from a teaching appointment. I had two companions at the time. We came up to Orangethorpe and State College, a busy intersection in Fullerton, CA that we'd driven through a million times. It's a long story to tell, so I'm mostly going to cheat and copy it from an email I sent the next day:

That accident we were in is so scary to think about now, but something interesting happened at the time. We were going 45 mph through a green light at an intersection, and a truck coming the opposite direction turned left right in front of us. I saw the truck a split second before we hit it, and I went for the brakes, but I knew we couldn't stop. And then...I wasn't scared. It all happened so fast, but I remember not being scared about what was going to happen. The next thing I remember is an airbag in my face. And it was really hot, and my glasses had been pushed up into my hair. The windshield wipers were on, and I was still holding onto the steering wheel. I remember that I felt the car start to roll a little bit, so I put it in park and turned it off. I don't know how long we sat there, but it feels like just a second later someone was opening my door and helping me out of the car (with the shock, none of us could get out by ourselves).

They led us over to the corner and sat us down on the curb. A man and a woman close to our age came over and told us they were EMTs and asked us if they could check our vitals. I had scrapes on the insides of my wrists from the airbag, and a huge scrape and goose egg on my right shin, and my companions had scrapes and bruises too, but none of us had been seriously hurt. Neither had the guy driving the truck.

Then the paramedics and the police came to check us out and to figure out what happened. Our zone leaders came and loaded all our things into their car (our poor 2013 Chevy Cruze was totaled). One of the senior sisters came to drive us home, and then to the hospital to get checked out. While we were there, our phone went crazy from all the missionaries and ward members who were worried about us.

I know it wasn't chance that there were so many people there to help us right when we needed it.

Later on we found out that if we had been going 50 mph, the car engine would have ended up in our laps.

A few days later, my mission president came to our district meeting. He got up to talk to us before it started, and he brought up one of his favorite scriptures:

And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up. --D&C 84:88

He said that he wished he could have seen what happened to us from the other side of the veil--that there must have been angels all around us, protecting us from the impact of the crash.

Here's another scripture I just thought of--some words from Nephi about how the Lord cares for His servants:

The tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance. --1 Nephi 1:20