In March of this year, Elder Matthew Joseph Burton and I had finished an appointment near Barnett Bank, and Elder Burton wanted to check to assure his money had been deposited to his account. When we entered the bank we noticed a long line of people waiting to use the automatic teller machine and considered leaving to return later. However, we noticed that the line was moving quite rapidly, so we took our place in line and waited.
Elder Burton inserted his card and punched in the necessary information to withdraw $20. The machine responded with two $10 bills and also a $20 bill. Elder Burton checked his receipt and verified that the $20 had not been deducted from his balance, which meant he had received $20 too much.We returned the money and the incident was forgotten.
In May, Elder Burton and I were in the laundry room when we were approached by a woman who asked if we were missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She indicated that her husband was a less-active member of the Church, and asked if we would visit him. She gave us their name and address, then left.
That same afternoon we decided to make the visit. When her husband opened the door, we recognized a familiar face. As the conversation continued he asked us if we banked at Barnett Bank. We replied that we did. Then he asked if we had ever returned a $20 bill there. Immediately we remembered that day two months previous. He then related the following:
He had withdrawn money to purchase a videocassette recorder, but on arrival at the store noticed he was missing $20. He was sure he had left it at the bank. His wife told him she felt the money had been left there and insisted they go back to get it. He asked her why she was so sure the money would still be there, to which she replied that she had noticed the next two people in line were missionaries from his church. They promptly returned to the bank to find that the missionaries had returned $20 they had received in error. He related that theywere so overcome with gratitude that they offered a prayer thanking the Lord for honest people.
As he related the story he looked at us and said, "You have passed the test, Elders," believing that the Lord had tested us in order for him and his family to recognize the need for improvement in their lives.