Events

Missionary – Coincidence – or Not

February 1, 2010

Elder Carpenter, one of the elders who is living with us, lives in Prescott, AR with his father and step-mother. That is “coincidence” number 1 – because we used to live there – and “coincidence” number 2 because some of our best friends, the Webbs, moved there. Elder Carpenter was looking at some pictures in our house and said, “Hey, that looks like my high school’s band uniform. Hey, that is my high school’s band uniform.” It was a picture of one of the Webb’s sons.

Elder Carpenter’s mother lives in Southern California. She is not a member of the church. We sent her a Christmas card to tell her how wonderful we thought her son was. We got the wrong address and it came back. Michael looked at the address and said, “Hey, I know this street.” Now here is “coincidence” number 3 – the big one. Michael looked at Elder Carpenter and said, “Wait, this is your mother? She lives in a house across from a pavilion at a park. The door is down the side of the house.” Elder Carpenter looked at him and said, “Wait, I thought I knew you.” It turns out that just before Michael went on his mission, he taught Elder Carpenter’s mother and one time Elder Carpenter was there. Michael told them all about the Denver North mission and how much he was going to love it there. And then Elder Carpenter ended up in our ward, living in our house when Michael came home.

Is it all just coincidence – I don’t think so. I don’t know how it all fits into the eternal plan – but there was some guidance there. Yes, it is a small world – but for that to just be coincidence – it would have to be a micro-world.