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The Saga of "The Coat"

We have two elders who currently serve in our ward, Elders Thomas and Slagle, and over the past month or two, we have gotten really close to them.  They originally asked if they could come over to share a message, but as soon as they met us and realized our awesomeness, they started asking if they could bring over an investigator, Josh Allen.  Then, when he was baptized, they asked if we would be willing to take them to the temple to do baptisms with Josh.  And when I left for this trip to NM and Utah, I asked Elder Thomas, an accomplished organist, if he would cover for me in the ward for two Sundays.

As we've gotten to know them, inevitably the subject of our aversion to Utah comes up.  Elder Thomas can especially talk trash with me about the beauty of Utah versus the beauty of Michigan; I mean, he seriously can hold his own.  I think though that he has some street cred because he isn't actually from "Happy Valley" but instead is from Southern Utah.  He told me that if I ever went there, I would see why he calls it the celestial kingdom ;-)

So knowing that we were going to Arches with Hannah, it seemed like an easy thing to head over to Capitol Reef and Bryce to see exactly what Elder Thomas was talking about.  I made these plans just two days before we were scheduled to leave, but I texted him and asked him if he wanted us to take anything back to his family.  I was thinking that since it was Mother's Day, he might want us to take some Michigan cherry candy or a Michigan Mom sweatshirt back home, but crazy enough, he asked us if we would take his winter coat home.

Yes, his winter coat.

He had been planning on sending it back, but he appreciated being able to save on postage.  He only had one day to get it to me, but he brought it by the night before we left on our trip.  The crazy thing is that his coat is a 3XL, and we don't take anything on trips but a carry-on.  However, we have appreciated all the things that the members have been doing for Glo on her mission, so how could we say "no" to him?

It was still Monday when he brought it by, and I was talking to Glo about it on the phone.  She suggested that John just WEAR it (to avoid the need of packing it).  BRILLIANT!  It became our own fellowship of the ring.

Well early the next morning, it just so happened to be cold, and John wasn't going to bring his own coat to the Utah desert, so there he was, in Detroit Metro, wearing the coat.  I could have died laughing, especially after his weight loss ;-)

 

And I worried that somewhere along the way, we would lose the coat. I mean, it went everywhere with us, but it was never packed.  We could possibly forget it in an overhead storage bin on the plane.  We could leave it in the Carlsons' car.  We could leave it anywhere.  So anytime we took anything out or put anything away, it became "do we have the coat?"

Surprisingly, it came in handy once again when we were leaving Albuquerque to fly to Utah, and it was raining and 40 degrees outside.  Yep, John slipped it on again and wore it into the airport.



It then sat in the trunk of Jewel through all of Northern and Central Utah.

The big day came when we pulled into Cedar City.  Elder Thomas just so happens to be from Cedar City, and Cedar City was the closest major city near Bryce.  So we arranged to meet up with his step-mother the next morning to drop off the coat.

It's funny how great kids come from really great people (John's and my parents being the notable exceptions....) because Elder Thomas' stepmother was a jewel.  For real.  She was warm, and beautiful, and confident, and just great.  And the best part?  She told us that she was told that she had to give us the best hugs from Elder Thomas which I thought was just the sweetest thing ever.  I can tell that he loves our family, but as a missionary, of course, he can't really express that, especially by hugging!  So to tell her to give us hugs?  Melt my missionary mom heart.

I had given John a funny idea for the picture which he ran with, and I could hardly wait to send the picture onto Elder Thomas, because as a missionary mom, there's nothing like getting a picture of a friend of mine meeting up with one of my kids <3


I have to admit that it was so much fun that I'm kind of sad the saga has come to an end.  It went on an adventure, and now it's home ;-)

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