RZL

This is my friend Ruben. I met him on my mission in the Twin Cities 1st Spanish ward. He was a very reliable joint teacher, was always willing to help the missionaries, and loved serving others.

This past week he came to Utah to visit me and we spent lots of time together. We met up on campus two Thursdays ago and I showed him around. He also wanted to see the MTC and the temple so we went for a quick drive around Provo.

On Saturday we went to General Conference. We got into the first session with the tickets dad sent us and we got more tickets for the afternoon session by standing outside asking for them! That was a new experience for me...

Sunday morning I stood outside asking for tickets again, kind of like these people here. We actually got in and had really good seats! We were on the main floor, right in the middle. :) In between sessions we said goodbye to Hermano Mejia and his boss because they had to head out for Vegas. 

Ruben had previously gotten us tickets for the Sunday afternoon session and that's the only one we didn't end up going to. The Juarez family was in town and two of them hadn't been able to see a session in the Conference Center so we gave them our tickets and watched it in the Tabernacle.

Then we went to the Nelson's home for dinner. They live in Centerville and Ruben met them while he was living in New Jersey and they were serving their mission. We had a lovely dinner. I felt like I was in missionary mode again, being invited over to someone's home for dinner and sharing a nice meal together. 

On Tuesday Ruben came over to our place for dinner and then we went to Utah Lake. We watched the sunset, chatted as we went for a walk and I even let him teach me how to dance. I think he has a pretty good eye for photography.

He picked me up after work on Wednesday and took me to Costa Vida for dinner. Then we visited Cam and Julia in the hospital. After that we went to institute. He drove to Idaho on Thursday morning for a graduation at BYU-I and was back in Salt Lake by Friday night. 

Saturday morning he picked me up at 10am and we had a long day ahead of us! First we went to the cheesecake factory and shared a piece of blueberry cheesecake.

We didn't finish the whole thing. As we were heading back to the car Ruben stopped to give our leftovers to Pat Perry, a homeless man on the side of the street. Pat's eyes immediately lit up and he said, "I've been seeing these bags for the past 2 weeks and couldn't wait to try some! Thank you!" It seriously made his day and I was grateful for Ruben's generosity and thoughtfulness.

A few hours later we went to Tucanos at The Gateway. The rest of the Minnesota graduation gang was on their way back from Idaho and we all met up for lunch. It was SO great to see more people from the mission! 

After lunch we had to hurry to Temple Square because we wanted to go to the 4 o'clock session. It was Ruben's first time seeing a live session and he was so excited! 

We both enjoyed the spirit we felt and the peace of the temple. By the time we got out it was already 6:30 and we had to rush back to Provo for the Ballroom Dance Concert. We made it just in time for the first number! I was especially excited to see their show because of this: 

That was the end of our Saturday. Ruben came back to Provo on Sunday and spent the day with me. It was a beautiful day to be outside so we spent some time on the temple grounds. After church we went up to the Y lookout while waiting for dinner. Meags cooked fish and rice with asparagus for Easter dinner. 

Then he had to leave. He'll be back in Minnesota late Monday night after a very very long drive. I had lots of fun with my new-found friend and I'm glad he came to visit. :)

The End.