The Wrong Coat Size
As most Saturdays, I made pancakes for my family in the morning. This time I didn’t eat any though. I opted to eat leftovers of yesterday’s “huevos a la mexicana” that I made. If I don’t, nobody will eat them. And I hate throwing out food. By the way, eggs with refried beans, homemade flour tortillas, and of course jalapeños en vinagre are way better than pancakes. Just don’t tell my kids that!
A hearty breakfast is always good on a Saturday like this. You see, today starts the annual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There are 5 sessions two hours each. And it’s filled with great talks. It’s like TED talks, but way better!
While watching the first session of conference, I enjoyed the following story. It was shared by Brook P. Hales, of the Quorum of the Seventy.
He has a young son that was called as a missionary to serve in Paris, France. While they were buying the clothes needed for his mission — mostly white shirts, ties, and suits, they couldn’t find the right coat size for him. The store clerk told them that if they ordered and paid for the right size coat, it would be sent to his son while at the Missionary Training Center (MTC) prior to him leaving for Paris.
The coat arrived just a few days before the new missionary was to leave the MTC. His son didn’t even try the coat on, he simply packed it. Later, when the time came to use it, he realized that the coat was too small for him. He told his parents, who sent him money to buy a coat of the right size in France. They also told him to give away the coat of the wrong size to someone in need.
Turns out that the young man gave the coat to another missionary. What he didn’t know, is that this other missionary was praying so that he could obtain a coat. He couldn’t afford one. He was a recent convert to the gospel and only two people were supporting him while he served a mission. One was his mom, of humble means. The other, the missionary that taught him the gospel and baptized him.
What looked like a human error, was the work of our Heavenly Father.
This story reminded me of this other great coat story that involves charity.
Esta historia también está disponible en español:
