Visiting Elder Frye in Richmond / Grandma with Layth and Mary / FaceTiming with Layth / Going to the "salon" with the Carlson girls

 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. 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.