Yesterday I drove south to Richmond, Virginia, to visit my nephew, Ari (Elder Frye), who is currently serving in the Richmond, VA Mission. The drive should take two hours, but I forgot the I-95 is one of the worst freeways in the country and one should avoid it anytime during the day. Because of traffic, my two-hour drive turned into a three-hour drive. When it comes to driving in traffic, I have the patience of my dear Mother, who would often drive a longer distance simply to avoid having to stop. Needless to say, I wasn't feeling very good (physically or attitudinally--yes, that's a word; I Googled it 😁) when I arrived in Richmond.
My first stop was a quick visit to the Richmond Temple, where I participated in initiatory work for 30 minutes. One of the ordinance workers knew my Dad from when he--the ordinance worker--taught some religion classes at BYU from 2003-2009. Brother Palmer is his name.
From there I went to Costco to buy a bunch of stuff for Elder Frye and his companion. When I finished, I loaded the items into the car and called the Elders to see if I could drop the stuff off at their apartment. They told me they were about to start a quick lesson with someone interested in the Church, but that they would send their address to me and they would meet me at the apartment in about 25 minutes. Five minutes went by. No address. 10 minutes went by. No address. As the minutes passed, I sent the following messages to the Elders.
Keep in mind, all this took place after a three-hour drive with mucho traffic. I really didn't want to be sitting and waiting in a car at this point.
After about 20 minutes in the Costco parking lot, I received their address and drove to their apartment. We offloaded the items and drove to a burger place called Cook Out. I intended to buy a meal for the Elders at a location of their choice. When we arrived, we quickly realized they didn't have indoor seating. Hence the "Out" part of Cook Out. So, we went next door to Popeyes, which ended up being a neat experience for us.
Me, Elder Frye, Michael, Elder Lapray
Almost immediately upon entering Popeyes, Michael, the district manager of several Popeyes locations in the area, came out to talk to us. He's a good, positive, God-loving man. He said he felt that he should buy our food for us, and he did! He told us about growing up in the "hood" in Delaware, making many poor choices, serving a four-year sentence in prison, and completely turning his life around. Now he shares his God-given gifts with others.
Ari (Elder Frye) shared the "Dare to stand alone" church video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_92mKlQOlk) with Michael and we talked a bit and the Elders invited him to come to church today.
After filling our bellies, we drove to the nearby YSA (Young Single Adult) church building to play basketball with the two YSA sister missionaries and other young people. Despite being more than twice the age of those young whippersnappers, I kept up with them, had fun, got some great exercise, and didn't break any bones.
One month or so ago, while I waited for an appointment in our stake center back home in Kaysville, I looked at all the missionary plaques from the different wards in our stake. I noticed a young woman from another ward was serving in Ari's mission. As it turned out, she was one of the two sisters playing basketball with us last night. Small world.
Elder Lapray, Ari's companion, is from Orem, Utah. He and Ari played basketball against each other during their high school years. He has a twin brother and a younger set of twin brothers as well. His twin brother is currently serving a mission in Jakarta, Indonesia where, according to Elder Lapray via his brother, because it's a Muslim country (the most populated Muslim country in the world), the missionaries are now allowed to actively proselytize. They have to wait until people ask them about the gospel and why they are there, and then they can talk about it.
The three of us did not bring gym clothes to the church, so we played in our church clothes.
Grandma (Margaret) with her two newest grandbabies, Layth and Mary.
On a FaceTime call with Sam and the kids.
Last weekend I visited my friends, Mary and Josh, and their three daughters. The girls wanted me to come to their "salon," which was a tent set up in their basement. I went, and this is what happened.
Clara, Annabelle, and Emmy with their client.
Bonus photo. I got this shot out my hotel window after a thunder storm last week.
The kids held a soda/cookie sale for their Service Club this month, to raise funds for the Primary service project next month (assembling "feelings kits" for children). They raised almost 300 dollars!
Grayson, Gentry, Maggie, Diana, Penny, Hope, Emmy, Eliza, Douglas, Oliver
Oliver took all the empty soda bottles back to his home.
Today we celebrated Mom's birthday by singing all the "Happy Birthday" songs at her gravesite.
Douglas (holding Layth), Penny, Maxwell, Diana, Denali
With the adults (Dad, Sara, Sam, Daniel)
Penny and Diana brought heart notes for Dad's new wife, Angela.
Angela, Dad, Sara, Sam, Daniel
Mom followed the "Bean Protocol" (eating lots of beans, meat, and veggies, and avoiding sugars) for quite a few years before her death. So, we filled some empty cans of beans with soil and flowers for her. I joked that her spirit would probably kick them off her headstone when we left, because she insisted she would never eat another bean after she left this mortal life.
