Driving and Bricks

I've been driving a lot this week. Mostly back and forth to Provo. Mostly because Carson decided to put his mission papers in and wanted to do it with our home bishop. 8 trips to Provo and back in 8 days (Saturday-1, Sunday-1, Tuesday-2, Thursday-2, Saturday-1, Sunday-1) and only one of those was not Carson-related. But I am not writing this to complain, far from it. I'm just sharing, just so you know :)

When the announcement came 3 weeks ago about the age change for missionary service, Carson suddenly had more options. He had been planning for a long time to go to two semesters of school, then come home to work for the summer, then be available for missionary service in August (when he turns 19). He could stick with his original plan, or make various tweaks to that plan, he just had to decide what was the best plan for him. He and I had several discussions for two weeks. He and I were both praying for him to know what our Father wants Carson to do. He heard lots of others talk about "being hit with a ton of bricks" and knowing they were supposed to go. He kept waiting for that ton of bricks. I reminded him that our prayers are not usually answered that way, in fact, I don't know that I personally have ever had that kind of an answer to prayer. Carson and I have had lots of talks about answers to prayers. I have reminded him many times that most often, our prayers are answered not by an angel visiting, a burning bush, an audible voice, or even feeling like a ton of bricks just hit us, but rather by other people who are in tune enough to offer needed service, ask the right questions, or even just listen.

Carson was having a discussion with his uncle, my brother, when Chris asked him a simple question--and that was Carson's answer. When he called to talk to me about it, I pointed out that that question was the "ton of bricks" that he had been waiting for, and he agreed.

The wheels were put in motion and everything has been taken care of on the application, so now he just needs to meet with the stake president before the papers can be submitted. He has put his availability date as January 7. We'll see where and when he goes sometime within the next month or so. I'm so happy for him--so much so that I don't even mind all those drives to Provo :)