My Weekend Away

I've come to find that I really enjoy being a transient. OK, not really a transient, but there is something thrilling about heading off into a new place with only a duffle bag and a back-pack.
This weekend I found a ride down to Salt Lake City on the ride board here at school. From there I caught a bus down to Provo where I got to see my good friend Devin for the first time in almost 3 years. I stayed at Devin's Friday and Saturday night and went to church with him. It was good to catch up with him after all that time. Friday night, we met up with a group of old friends from EAC. That was fun.
Saturday, I headed to temple square and met my parents, my brother Jim, and my Uncle Marlin and his family. While my parents and uncle went through a temple session, me and my aunt Jennifer took the kids and Jim on a tour of all the interesting places around temple square.
One of the coolest things to see on temple square is the view from the 10th floor of the Joseph Smith Memorial building. You take the elevator up, and they have viewing areas on each end of the building. The best view is from the side that faces the Salt Lake temple where you get a great view of the whole temple, the tabernacle, and the conference center.
While we were up there, we decided to let the kids see the view from the other side's viewing area, not quite as nice of a view, but still fun to take a look. Now I'm glad we did. In the reception hall next to that viewing area, I saw my mission companion Aaron Medaris with his new bride! It just happened to be the place where they were holding their wedding banquet prior to their reception! I was in street clothes, but I had to go congratulate them. He was so surprised and glad to see me. That's what I call serendipity ---or a tender mercy. Either way, it was cool.
I went to Devin's ward on Sunday. His bishop is Bishop Pugh, Robert Pugh's brother. The church really makes it a small world. After church, Devin headed to Park City to finish out the weekend snowboarding. I headed over to see my friend/mission companion Tod Robbins and his wife Pamela. It was so good to see them and spend some time visiting. They are fun.
All in all, the trip couldn't have been more full of great times. I got back into Rexburg last night at 7:30, and it's back to life as usual.