This is Elder Smith our Financial Secretary
This is Elder Smith's Wallet... A little like George Costanza's.
I am exaggerating a bit... it is more like this.
One day he and his companion jumped in a taxi...
And that was the last time he remembers seeing his wallet.
It must have fallen out of his pocket in the taxi.
He felt sick! After all... he is the Financial Secretary and his wallet
had all the credit cards (personal and for the mission)
checks, receipts and a little money.
And the most important thing was his original Carnet Card
which is his documentation for living in Perú.
Elder Smith offered some very sincere prayers at this time.
But then he got up and went to work...
He canceled his cards and stopped checks and moved forward.
He knew in his heart it was gone forever.
He was going to have to fly to Lima and spend a day or two
getting his Identification and documentation renewed.
He was making his flight plans.
Several days later Elder Cook shows up in the office.
He was the previous Financial Secretary.
He reaches into his pocket and pulls out
all of Elder Smith's credit cards, checks, receipts,
and all of his original ID's and documents.
"WHERE DID YOU FIND THIS ELDER COOK?"
said Elder Smith.
Here is how the story goes....
They were passing by a woman in their area that said
that a man called her and said he found some
missionary's cards at the mall.
Evidently the person that found the wallet
went straight to the mall with
the cash and ditched the rest.
The man that found the cards knew that
this woman was a member of the church
and did she know any Elder by the name of Cody?
She said no.
But later...
when she saw Elder Cook's name tag
She thought of CO... C O..
She told the missionaries that a man had Elder Cook's
documents and that he needed to call this man
that lived way on the other side of town.
(A thirty minute taxi ride)
Elder Cook said that he had all of his
belongings and there must be a mix up.
The woman insisted that he call this man.
Elder Cook said that he could maybe
pass by this man's house later
when he had to go to the mission office anyway.
When they talked to this man he said that
no, it was not Elder Cook
but a Cody...
They racked their brains and finally asked is it an
Elder CODY Smith...
Yes, we know him.
SO, the man gave them all of the cards,
receipts, checks, and documentation.
It was all there except for the little amount of cash
and the physical wallet.
The funny thing is that Elder Smith had made flights
to be in Lima the day before this had all happened
but had to cancel because
the offices in Lima were closed for holiday.
Before making new flights the cards were returned.
He saved flights to Lima and two days of standing in lines.
Little tender mercies of the Lord.... they happen
all the time around here.
If you really knew the logistics of the mall and how far apart
all of these people live from each other
and how many members and missionaries there
are in this crazy city of a million people
then this story is amazing.
