he's back

I found him on Wednesday at the Salt Lake Airport.

It was the perfect setup.

He had his back to me talking to an employee at the flight desk.

I came up behind him and about 30 ft. away I couldn't contain myself anymore and called out to him. A movie moment.

"Hey Elder Nimer!" I said.

Surprised that someone knew his name, he turned around and there was my brother. A little older and possibly a little taller. He was even more surprised that the person calling his name was his sister. He gave me a big hug and I introduced him to Halle.

Our flight was mostly lovely as I sat and listened to him tell stories and talk about how much his testimony has grown.

We were probably the two worst people to put on a flight together.

He gets terrible motion sickness and one of my biggest fears is flying. Add the wind and turbulance that you catch as you land at the tiny St. George airport and you have a recipe for disaster.

We were two siblings sitting there.

One about to vomit into one of those little white bags and the other clutching her brother and toddler while hyperventilating.

The people around us were sure glad to see us get off that plane with no major problems.

But other than that the flight was an amazing memory I am glad I have.

We were met by proud parents, family, and friends and shortly after Elder Nimer was released.

He has changed.

He is more helpful, he notices a need and he takes care of it.

He doesn't have a desire to sleep in, watch movies, play video games.

For awhile he had no appetite.

He wakes up early, he exercises, he studies the scriptures, he puts his dishes away.

His testimony is absolutely solid.

I still remember sitting in his car eating Wendy's three years ago as he tried to teach me the story of the restoration for a mission prep class.

He had so many facts wrong.

We thought back on that day and laughed.

His knowledge has grown immeasurably.

He is slowly getting his sense of humor back and although sometimes I wonder where my brother went, I know he is in there.

Every time I walked into the bathroom at home I found the toilet seat up.

Trust me, he is still in there.

But he has changed so much for the better.